


SEV Pilgrim

by SpraceJunkie



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: M/M, not really but definitely sci-fi, sort of a star trek au?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2018-08-31 17:22:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 21,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8587216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpraceJunkie/pseuds/SpraceJunkie
Summary: Only the best were chosen for the academy. The smartest, the fastest fliers, the best navigators, the ones who learned fastest. The ones who wrote computer code like it was their native language, the ones who could look inside an engine or accelerator and pick out the exact piece that was wrong, the ones who could design and build things in their sleep.Getting an academy letter was the equivalent to being told that you were going to have a good life. It didn't matter where you came from, it didn't matter your past, the academy erased it all.So coming home to the letter with the seal, seeing your name on the envelope and knowing that you were chosen to be the best of the best, and your life was on the rise for once was something you just didn't get anywhere else.





	1. Chapter 1

Only the best were chosen for the academy. The smartest, the fastest fliers, the best navigators, the ones who learned fastest. The ones who wrote computer code like it was their native language, the ones who could look inside an engine or accelerator and pick out the exact piece that was wrong, the ones who could design and build things in their sleep.  
Getting an academy letter was the equivalent to being told that you were going to have a good life. It didn't matter where you came from, it didn't matter your past, the academy erased it all.  
So coming home to the letter with the seal, seeing your name on the envelope and knowing that you were chosen to be the best of the best, and your life was on the rise for once was something you just didn't get anywhere else.  
For Jack, it was even more than that. He’d been flying for years, but growing up in Pitmedden province meant that he only had access to ships that were at least four generations old.  
That letter meant that he was going to finally be able to see what he could do in a brand new space cruiser instead of a twenty-year-old miniature cargo ship or personal STS. He would be trained to fly, possibly military, possibly explorations, or maybe even recon missions. He would have a chance to be somebody other than the poor kid from Mossley station, other than an orphan. He would be somebody.  
At least, that was what he'd thought when the letter had arrived, and even throughout training. He’d been treated just like anybody else would have been, not like he was from the Pits.   
But now, standing in front of the lists of first-year assignments and unable to find his name on any of them, it felt like the world that he'd allowed himself to build up in his head over his three years of training was crashing down around him.  
He had been top of his class, he’d been one of three pilots to pass the sim finals his first time, and yet he hadn't been assigned to anything, apparently.   
And if he hadn't been assigned, that meant it would be back to Pitmedden, waiting for a call that would probably never come, and he'd be left behind while all the people he’d made friends with went out into space and did their jobs for the coalition. He'd be left behind, and there wasn't much he could do about it.  
“Oh no. No, no, I told her this would happen, no.” Jack was broken out of his stance, staring unbelievingly at the lists, to see a tiny little boy standing next to him, frantically scanning the lists with tears welling up in his eyes.   
“You too?” The boy looked up.  
“I didn't just get a bad assignment, I got no assignment! I'm going home!”  
“Yeah, me too.” The boy looked like he was about to collapse in on himself. “Maybe they’ll...maybe we’ll-”  
“It doesn't matter what they do. I’m going home.” He slid down the wall, and Jack was surprised to hear the metallic clank of the boy’s right leg hitting the ground. “I’ll never be anything.” Jack slid down to sit next to him.  
“Where are you from?”  
“Tarrin province.”  
“That’s not so bad, at least.”  
“Anywhere’s bad when you're an academy reject and a cyborg.” The boy kicked his foot and clanged against the floor again.   
“You're not a reject, you just-”  
“I just was so bad at the only thing I’m good at that even getting into the academy wasn't enough to make me something.”  
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m clearly not a good enough pilot to do anything with all this training either. I’m doomed to a life in the Pits.”  
“At least there’s room for pilots in places other than here. Mechanics only get good work here or in a city, and I won't ever move to the city.”  
“Why not?”  
“Can't.” He looked away like he didn't want to talk about it anymore.  
“I'm Jack.”  
“Charlie.” The conversation that had started to start was interrupted by a wail from the next posting wall.  
“No, no, no!” Charlie snorted out a sort of laugh that sounded like it might have been hiding a sniffle.  
“We should make a club.” A boy came from around the corner and almost stepped on both of them while looking over the lists.   
“I have to have an assignment!” The new boy rested his head against the wall. He also seemed to be close to tears. “I have to.”  
“Sit and mourn the loss of your future with us.” The boy started and looked down at Charlie and Jack, who he was still standing over.  
“What?” Charlie half smiled.  
“We didn't get assigned either.”   
“I’m Jack, he’s Charlie, and we’re both trying to figure out why this is happening to us, so join us.” The new boy also slid down and sat.  
“Davey.”  
“Nice to meetcha. Where are you from?” Of the three of them, Jack was clearly the calmest.  
“Lerwick station.”  
“Oh. Keld isn't the worst province.”  
“I was the only chance to get my family money. And now I'm not.” Davey closed his eyes, and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but was interrupted by the PA system sparking into life.  
“Once more, first year graduate assignments have been posted on the boards. If your assignment has not been posted, you are required to meet in the main office at first nines tomorrow to receive your instructions.”  
“They're going to send us home and pretend like it’s an honor,” Charlie said despondently.  
“Or they have some awesome super cool secret assignment that only the best get. I mean, I was top of my class.”  
“I thought I was.”  
“Same.” Charlie dragged himself to his feet. “But I guess we’ll find out officially tomorrow, so pardon me while I go figure out how to tell my mom that I didn't get an assignment.” Davey nodded depressedly and stood up as well.  
“Yeah. See your tomorrow, I guess, Jack. Charlie.”  
“Sure.” Jack stayed sitting down for a little while before he, too, stood up and headed back to his dorm, thinking about what he was supposed to do with his life if he couldn't be a coalition pilot. Regardless of what he’d said to Charlie and Davey, he didn't really believe any of it. Not being on the boards was pretty much a guarantee of not having a good assignment, if any at all.


	2. Chapter 2

“First year graduate assignments, once more, are posted on the boards. If your assignment has not been posted, please report to the main office at first nines. Reminder: dorm checks are scheduled for second sevens tonight. Third years, graduation replies are expected from your family members by tomorrow morning, by first tens. Second year students, exams will begin at first eights. Second and first years, sims finals have been rescheduled for the Monday after graduation ceremonies.” Jack was woken, as he had been every day for the last three years, at first sevens by the PA system coming on again. And, like always, the smell of breakfast was coming through the vents, making Jack hungry.  
But unlike always, or at least unlike the last year, Jack wasn't waking up looking forward to class, or a sim day, or leaving for a week of station training. Instead, he was dreading having to go to the main office and be told that he was being sent back home. First Nines seemed to come both too fast and not fast enough, and suddenly Jack was standing in front of the head administrators desk, surrounded by other kids he'd seen around but never really spoken too. The only people he knew by name were Davey, Charlie, and Katherine, who he knew from on of his academic classes. She was a computer genius, and if she didn't get assigned Jack didn't know how any of their classmates had. Every kid in the office, somewhere around 30 of them, was either looking down or watching the administrator finish looking through his paperwork before looking up at all of them.  
“So. None of you have assignments on the boards.” The mumbling of the group confirmed his statement. “Each of you has been top of your classes all throughout your time here. Mr. Kelly, you were one of only three students to pass your sims finals the first go, the only one to pass above an eighty. Miss Plummer, you were the only one who managed to code exactly what we asked for. Mr. Jacobs, the only one who tested as fluent in more than six languages. Mr. Morris, one of only four who passed the head mechanic’s test after only three years of training in the history of the academy. So I’m sure all of you are confused as to why you haven't been given the top assignments, rather the students below you.” Again, there was a mumble of agreement as the students looked down.  
“If you weren't going to assign a cyborg, don't teach one.” Jack heard Charlie whisper behind him and was sure the boy was blinking back tears again.  
“The truth is, you aren't of any use to us in any of the assignments open for most third year graduates. As a secondary mechanic, at the highest, you wouldn't learn much of anything new, Mr. Morris. Miss Jacobs, as an assistant analyst, you wouldn't improve your own abilities. This class of third years is only the second that we’ve had that’s large enough for this particular assignment. Basically, there are thirty of you, enough to have control over a small exploration vessel. You are going to be assigned, all of you, to the same ship. You will be accompanying a high level heavyweight ship on exploration missions. You will be working together, living together, and learning together. The only time the heavyweight ship will affect your assignments will be if you need somebody to bail you out of a bad situation. This assignment is not something you are allowed to broadcast to the world. It’s not something to joke about or not take seriously. This is a chance for you to all prove that your high scores were not a fluke but in fact show your promise in the fields you've been training in. The day after graduation ceremonies, you are to report here again to receive finalizations of your assignment at first tens, as your classmates report to the bay to board transportation for their respective assignments. That’s all.” The administrator looked back down at his papers, a clear dismissal. The students were left to file out of the office, slightly confused but very glad that they had some kind of assignment at least. Jack saw Davey walking out with a girl who looked like him, Charlie alone but smiling slightly, and Katherine with Davey and the other girl, talking animatedly.

 

Graduation ceremonies consisted of the entire third year class being dressed up in their gray dress uniforms, sitting in their perfectly formed rows. They stood up when they were told to, sat down when they were told to, showed happiness when it was appropriate, and otherwise sat still and straight. And then the ceremony finally ended and all the graduates were able to celebrate with their families and friends, and things seemed good.  
At least until Medda and Hannah came up to Jack and asked about his life.  
Pretty much the only bad thing about being in the academy was that the only time you got to go home was for two weeks during the summer. And even though Jack didn't have much of a home, Hannah was pretty much his sister and Medda was the only person that had ever really taken care of Jack consistently. So seeing them come was amazing, but it wasn't really fun just because Jack heard most of the people around him talking excitedly about being assigned to Jacluna, or to a security detail on Titan CLX, or to an Earth base, and hearing their families be excited for them, maybe a little sad or upset if their kid was going far away, but excited for their child or cousin or sibling.  
And Jack wasn't even sure if he was allowed to tell Medda, the closest thing Jack had to mother, that he was good enough of a pilot to be given his own ship right after graduation.   
Well. His own ship under supervision, but still. He was going to be the captain and pilot with a crew, with his own ship. And he didn't want to ruin it, but he did want to share it. It was a big deal, the orphaned son of a not-so-great man being a pilot for the coalition, doing his part for Earth and the rest of the aligned universe.   
So instead of talking about it, he carefully evaded talking about what his assignment was exactly. He answered questions as vaguely as possible.  
No, he probably wouldn't be home at all.  
He was piloting a lightweight cruiser.  
He didn't know where he was going, exactly.  
He had met a few of the people he was assigned with before.  
Yeah, he was excited.  
He left sometime soon, probably in the next week.  
Yes, he was excited, they asked nine times.  
No, he didn't think he'd be able to come home before he left.  
Yes, he’d keep in touch all the time.  
Yes, he’d visit in person whenever he could.  
No, he couldn't promise that would be a lot, or consistently, but yes, he promised he would try.  
Finally, all those kind of questions were exhausted and devolved into mostly Hannah lightly making fun of Jack and Medda smiling proudly.  
The day was over too fast, ending with Medda and Hannah getting back on the Skylon headed back to the Pits.  
And Jack was lying in bed, watching old training videos on his tablet, trying to fall asleep. He was only slightly terrified of what his assignment would be, but that slight terror was just enough to keep him awake.   
His tablet bleeped with a notification, flashing blue.  
 _Charlie Morris wishes to chat. Accept? ___  
Not many people knew how to access the chat function on the academy tablets, mostly because it was hidden quite carefully by the administrators. Jack had convinced one of his friends to get them in, and there were a few other people who could talk.  
Charlie Morris was not somebody who Jack had ever talked to over chat. He had to think for a while before he remembered that Charlie Morris was the boy who had also been at the boards. The apparently genius mechanic.  
“Accept.” Instantly, the small screen displayed Charlie’s face.  
“Oh, uh, hi.”  
“Hi.” There was a very awkward silence.  
“So, uh, we’re gonna be working together, huh?”  
“Guess so.”  
“Pilot, right?”  
“Yep.” Jack popped the p, trying to think of something else to say. “Umm...you passed the head mechanic’s test?”  
“Uh, yeah.”  
“Wow.” There was more awkward silence before Crutchie spoke up again.  
“I don't know why I video called when I’m one of the most awkward people in existence.”  
“Really? You seem friendly enough.”  
“I try to be, but I’ve never really had friends, so I don't really know how to make them.”  
“Oh.”  
“Um...how did you start flying?” Jack laughed slightly. His origin story, as Hannah had once described it, was something.  
“I ran away from my dad by stealing a cargo ship from the factory in town. And then the police chased me and I discovered a natural aptitude for evasion when I escaped them. And then I crashed the ship trying to land, so I had to pay for it somehow, so I worked at the factory, but I was really, really bad at assembling PSUs, so they moved me to helping with deliveries, and eventually to piloting deliveries. And there was this weird old man who lived on the edge of town who let me use his old STS sometimes, and somehow the academy heard of me and sent me the letter, and here I am.”  
“That sounds made up. Especially the old man part.”  
“It does, doesn't it? Hannah calls it my origin story.”  
“Hannah?”  
“She's my...sister, I guess. She’s the daughter of the woman who takes care of me, so I guess that makes her my sister.”  
“Oh. I have sisters.”  
“Cool. How did you become a mechanic?”  
“My leg. I hated going to the doctor to get it fixed, so I taught myself how. And the inside of an artificial limb is surprisingly similar to the engine of a ship, so I taught myself how to fix those, too. My cousin let me practice on some of his old models.”  
“So it’s even more impressive that you're one of four people to ever pass that test after only three years here.”  
“I guess. It just comes naturally to me. Probably because I have the same sort of stuff in my body, so I’m used to it.” Charlie was smiling now, clearly feeling more comfortable, and two minutes later he was talking animatedly to Jack. The conversation already felt easy, and Jack could tell that he and Charlie would be good friends, soon. And he was even more sure of that when he looked up at the clock and saw that it was already first twos, far past curfew.  
“Goodnight, Charlie.”  
“Night, Jack.” Jack was treated to a huge, bright smile, an expression he’d never seen on Charlie’s face before.


	3. Chapter 3

“Reminder: all students who have received assignments are to report to the bay area to receive final confirmation of destinations, unless told otherwise.” The reminder came too late to be of use, as Jack and at least ten other people were already waiting outside the office door, waiting for first tens to arrive so they could finally know for sure where they were being assigned.  
By looking around, it was easy to see who was feeling what. There was a boy leaning casually against a wall, clearly calm. Another boy was bouncing up and down, muttering something under his breath. Katherine was sitting, typing away quickly on her computer, Charlie was staring off into space and making his leg clank against the floor. Slowly, more and more of the people Jack had seen in the office gathered around outside, waiting for the bell to ring first tens so they could figure out what exactly was going to be going on.  
Jack could hear some of his other classmates, ones who had been given normal assignments, flooding towards the bays, already certain of where they would be spending the next phase of their lives.  
This section of the hallway, meanwhile, was nearly silent. The boy who was muttering got louder and louder, until what he was saying was clearly audible and his bouncing had developed into actual jumping.  
“Galaxy CDXI is 728 parsecs in distance from WSS 7. Galaxy CDXII is 874 parsecs in distance from WSS 7. Burrafirth Base is 89 parsecs in distance from WSS 7.”  
“Romeo. Please.” Katherine spoke up. “You don’t need to recite every galaxy in the explored universe. We don't care about the explored universe. We’re going to be explorers. You’re just stressing everybody out.” Romeo’s frantic movement slowed down and his recitation went back to being whispered. Finally, the bell rang and as soon as it did, the door swung open and everybody outside was instantly at attention. With a gesture from the administrator all of them filed in.  
The door closed behind them, and somebody in the back of the room stood up as it did.  
“Good morning.” He was clearly a high ranking officer in the coalition, his uniform was neatly pressed and decorated with at least fifteen different medals and badges. “My name is Captain Joseph Pulitzer. I will be heading the exploration operation that you will be a part of, albeit on your own ship. I am not going to interfere with you past the training period, you will essentially be on your own.” The captain continued to talk, outlining things like where their training would take place, the general direction they would be exploring in, and how the system would work. Eventually, he stopped and abruptly walked out, leaving the graduates to process everything they'd heard, until the administrator stepped up with an armload of folders.  
“You will all be leaving from here in three days to go to Venzor Station to begin your training. You will all be expected to know each other by name by then, so as to be able to begin training quickly and hard. Captain Pulitzer’s goal is to be able to leave within six months. You are going to be working harder than you ever have before. I am aware that these three years at the academy have not been all that difficult, for any of you. That is why you have been chosen for this. However, real life is much more difficult than any training we could give you. You will be challenged. You will face real life problems in real life situations, and you will be in real danger. This is not something you can slack off on, or something you can treat like another exam. This is more than that, and you are to treat it as such.” He looked around expectantly.  
“Yes sir.”  
“Good. Here are you assignments. Jack Kelly, pilot and acting captain. Charlie Morris, head mechanic. David Jacobs, translator. Sarah Jacobs, data analyst. Katherine Plumber, head programmer. Romeo Yutaka, navigator. Sean Conlon, medical. Antonio Higgins, strategist.” The list went on and on, each kid stepping up and taking the folder that was handed to them. When everybody had been called, the administrator dismissed them with a wave.  
“Well. That was exciting.” Sean Conlon. Medical. Jack categorized people’s faces as they walked out, trying to remember who was who.  
“Very.” Antonio Higgins. Strategist. “What a great way to be introduced to the people we’ll be spending the next years of our lives with. I vote a party instead.”  
“A party?” Davey sounded skeptical.  
“You know. Since it’s required we know each other by the time we leave in three days. A party.”  
“Won’t we get in trouble?”  
“Um, no? All of the third years but us are gone, and none of us is a hallway manager, so nobody would report us. As long as we don’t do something stupid and it stays in our dorm wing.”  
“Technically, I’m an HM.” Sean Conlon spoke up again.  
“Have you ever done anything an HM is supposed to do, ever?” Antonio Higgins clearly had interacted with Sean Conlon before, but not necessarily in a friendly way. “Anyway, a party makes the most sense. A friendly environment, easy mixing, a chance to interact with anyone we want to. Also, a chance to relax after, I’m assuming, all of us were terrified of not being assigned.”  
“Geez, prodigy, we’re not on a ship yet. You don't have to strategize everything out now.”  
“It’s what I do. Deal with it. Anyway, party in my dorm, 3679. Tonight, second tens. Bring food and nobody who isn’t part of this group. Goodbye.” And with that, Antonio Higgins, strategist, walked off, pulling out a personal communicator and starting to speak rapid fire in a language other than the common language they had all been speaking before. Before anybody could ask, Davey was already explaining.  
“Italian. Traditional language found mainly in the Lewes to Romsey provinces. He was talking to a sister, called her a goat, and asked for a package of their mother’s food to be sent here before we have to leave.”  
“How many languages do you speak?” Tiana Lucia. Defensive Weaponry. She sounded very impressed.  
“Fluently?”  
“Uh, sure.”  
“Six traditional from Earth and four traditional from other planets. Four variations of the common language as found in different parts of the known universe. I’m close to fluent in almost 50 traditional Earth languages and twenty outside languages, conversational in nearly 100 Earth languages and 70 outside languages, and know useful words and phrases in about 125 Earth languages and 100 outside languages.”  
“Holy fuck.” Somebody, Jack couldn't place who, whispered almost reverently, behind him. Davey didn't seem to quite understand why everyone was so amazed at his casual recitation of how many languages he knew.  
“My brother knows 479 languages to some degree, and most of them he was already learning before he came here. He also doesn't understand why that’s weird.” Sarah looked proud of her brother. “All of us have something like that, don't we? That's why we’re special. Numbers make more sense to me than people.”  
“I see everything like a map.” Romeo Yutaka, navigator.  
“Mechanics seem like common sense to me.” Charlie.  
“Computer programming is easier than conversations.” Katherine.  
“So, yeah, it’s cool that Davey speaks so many languages, but it’s not like most of us don’t have something like that. I mean, Jack Kelly, were you not the one who passed a third year exam while you were a first year?” Everybody looked at Jack.  
“I mean, kind of. I flew into the exam course on accident trying to escape security and I made it through.”  
“Why were you trying to escape security?” Clearly Sarah hadn't heard the entire story.  
“I stole the ship I was flying to sneak into town but they caught me.”  
“We have an idiot for a pilot.” The same voice that had whispered at Davey’s recitation spoke up again, but this time Jack could see who it was. Sean.  
“I’m not an idiot, I just wanted to do something fun on a Saturday.”  
“So you stole a ship and went through an exam course that plenty of third years can't even get through-”  
“Not on purpose. I took a wrong turn and you don't exactly have the ability to turn around and fix your mistakes when security drones are chasing you. And, I made it through, so clearly I’m a decent pilot.” Sean snorted and walked off in the same direction that Antonio Higgins had gone in.  
“He seems pleasant.”  
“He’s bitter because Race broke up with him and now they have to work together again.” Katherine seemed to know what she was talking about, and Sarah and Davey seemed to understand her, but Jack had no idea who Race was, so he was lost.  
“Who?” At least Charlie was also confused.  
“Race. Antonio Higgins?”  
“Why would you call him Race?”  
“Because that’s his nickname? That everyone calls him by? Just like Sean is Spot?”  
“Those nicknames don't make sense.”  
“So? That’s just what they go by. Anyway, my point was that Spot probably won't be pleasant to be around for a while, since he’s not over Race. And Race probably won't be nice as long as Spot’s around, because he’s trying to prove that he’s happy without Spot, even though he isn't.”  
“Why did they break up?” Romeo suddenly seemed very interested.  
_A gossip. _Jack noted.__  
“Spot was an asshole and Race has no idea how to treat a relationship like it’s a relationship, instead of something he can strategize out like a siege plan.”  
“Oh.” Romeo looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but was interrupted by Charlie.  
“So you all know each other, then?”  
“I know them. Sarah and Dave only know of them from me.”  
“Hopefully they’ll be able to work together well enough to not drive all of the rest of us insane, since we’ll be working with them for a while.”


	4. Chapter 4

Jack ended up in the cafeteria, watching old movies and snacking for most of the day. The first and second years were in sims finals, so they didn't even get a break for lunch long enough to merit coming to the cafeteria, they were served in the sims buildings. For the first time in his three years at the academy, there weren't people flooding the cafeteria and it was actually rather calm. Every once in a while a group of recent graduates would come through, pick up some food, and walk back out, apparently waiting for their time to leave for their assignments. It was a nice kind of quiet, with only the noise coming from the vendors making and keeping food and the occasional person coming through, and it left just enough peace for Jack to enjoy his movies and sketch the characters if he felt like it.  
“What is that?” Davey came and sat down next to Jack, looking at his screen in fascination.  
“An old movie. It’s called Toy Story, I think.”  
“I’ve never seen anything like that.”  
“It’s cool, isn't it? Drawings that move.”  
“And it’s in English! Where did you find it?”  
“The woman who takes care of me has a collection. Not all of them are in English, but that’s the only language other than the common one that I speak. I bet you'd love them.”  
“That’s really cool.” Davey was mesmerized by the moving characters on the little screen, and the tiny voices that came from them. “How did they make the drawings move like that? Why didn't they just use normal people?”  
“From what I can tell, they used drawings for kids and real people for adults. I like this movie because it’s funny, though. It was the first one I saw.”  
“Wow.” Jack had to fight the urge to laugh at the expression on Davey’s face, but he knew that he’d probably looked the same way the first time he’d seen a movie like that. “They didn't have much technology, but they sure knew how to use it.”  
“Yeah.” Jack turned back to his tablet, where he had been sketching out Woody.  
“Did you make that?”  
“Mm-hmm.”  
“Wow. How did you learn that?”  
“Practice. I like to draw, it’s relaxing.” Davey settled into a comfortable silence, then, alternating between watching the movie and watching Jack draw, until the movie ended.  
“Are you going to that party?”  
“Yeah. We do have to get to know each other, right? At least a party will be fun.”  
“You’re the captain. You have to know _everyone _.”__  
“Acting captain, but yeah.”  
“Is there a difference between acting captain and captain?”  
“Sort of. It means that even though I’m the captain, I’m not officially a captain. Technically, they could demote me at any time and make anyone else the captain. I’m only the captain because I’m the pilot and that makes sense.”  
“Oh.”

\--------------------------  
“Dorm 3679.” Spot stood outside the door, staring at the number. There were a lot of memories behind that door, and he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to relive them. “Hurray.” He opted to kick the door instead of knocking, fully aware that he was early but even more unwilling to explain his reluctance to the next person to arrive than to go inside early.  
“Hi-oh.” Race opened the door smiling, ready to meet somebody new, and Spot definitely didn’t miss how quickly the smile dropped, before it came back, smaller and forced. “Hi, Spot.”  
“Hi.” Awkward silence. The same awkward silence that had filled the last month of their relationship. At least, until the fighting had started. Then their relationship had been full of yelling.  
“Doctor, huh?”  
“I’ve always been going to be a doctor. That’s why I’m here.”  
“I was just trying to start a conversation.”  
“What, you can’t plan a conversation the same way you can plan a relationship?”  
“If you acted like a fucking human, neither relationships nor conversations would need planning!”  
“Maybe I’d be able to act like a normal person if you hadn't started treating me like I was some sort of robot that could be programmed!”  
“Maybe I wouldn't have needed to plan things the way I did if you had been willing to, you know, go on dates and do things normal people do when they're dating!”  
“Maybe-”  
“Okay, both of you, calm down.” Katherine came in through the door that Spot hadn't realized he'd left open. “If you can't have a calm conversation, don't talk to each other.”  
“It’s pretty hard not to talk to him when he-”  
“Race. Shut up. Spot didn't choose to be assigned with you, it’s not his fault.”  
“But-”  
“No. This is supposed to be _fun _. We’re getting to know the people we’re going to be working with for the foreseeable future. Just stay away from each other.” It took some convincing but eventually Race pouted his way to the corner and busied himself until other people arrived.__  
Not everybody was there until halfway between second tens and second elevens, but as soon as Katherine had counted everyone, she stood in the center of the room and started yelling.  
“Okay shut up! All of you! Quiet! Okay. Thank you. We, as a group, are going to get to know each other. And we are going to do it by listing off the following things: your name, any nicknames you prefer, what you do, and your favorite snack food.”  
“That’s stupid.” Spot looked at Race, noticing him still pouting.  
“Deal with it, Higgins, everybody is going to do it. Starting with our new captain. Jack.” Everybody turned to look at Jack, who had been sitting in a chair comfortably talking to Charlie and Davey.  
“Oh. Um, okay. I’m Jack, nobody really calls me anything else, I’m a pilot and I like graham crackers.” Katherine nodded at at Charlie, telling him to go next.  
“Charlie, I don’t have any nicknames, really, I’m a mechanic, and I like...cookies.”  
“I’m Davey, I guess some people call me Dave, I’m a linguist and I don’t really like snacks. I guess I like jello.”  
“Tiana, everyone calls me Smalls, pretty much, defensive weaponry, and I also like cookies.”  
The questions went around the circle. Romeo, Spot, Katherine, Sarah, Race, Finch, Buttons, on and on, until everyone had answered. Jack tried to note everybody’s names, but there were so many, and so many nicknames.  
“Okay. That’s everyone. Play nice and remember each other. We leave in three days.”  
“Space mom.” Once more, a whisper that couldn't quite be placed was clearly heard throughout the room. “But then who’s space dad?” The second whisper pinpointed the source as being from the corner that had Romeo, Itey and Buttons in it, but none of them gave away who had said it.  
Jack didn't exactly blame them, either. Katherine’s face was impenetrable, somewhere in between looking angry and looking touched. She looked at the corner for a little while longer like she was trying to mind read who had called her their space mom.  
“Anyway.” And with that, Katherine turned back to her conversation with Sarah and the rest of the room went back to the volume level it had been at before Katherine had made them all stop. People were laughing and talking to each other like old friends, which was a good sign. Pretty much the only people Jack hadn't noticed have some sort of conversation together were Spot and Race, which was expected not probably not a super good sign of how well they would work together in the future.  
“You’ll have to talk to them.” Charlie had noticed Jack watching the pair. “It’s not like they have to love each other, they just need to be able to work together.”  
“I know.” Jack frowned. “I just don't know how to make them talk. Clearly they didn't break up on good terms.”  
“You'll think of something. Captain.” Charlie smiled at him before standing up. “But I have to go. Recharge my leg.” Jack wasn't sure how to react to that. “That was a joke, Jack. I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.”  
“Oh, okay. Goodnight, then!”  
“Goodnight!”


	5. Chapter 5

Three days was both too long and not long enough.  
It seemed like for calling Medda and Hannah and letting them know that he was leaving, three days wasn't enough. He wanted to be able to tell them more about where he was going, and he wanted to talk to them more than he was able to in the three-day flurry of packing and finalizing all his forms.  
But at the same time, the times when he wasn't busy he couldn't help but wish he was already gone.  
He’d spent so much time in the Pits, watching the poor people struggle in the factory and thinking he’d never get away, that he couldn't wait to leave. He couldn't wait to finally be free of the life he’d thought he’d never get to leave. Even though the academy was than what life was like at home, it still hadn't been enough. He’d still been Earthbound, not able to get away from his tiny blue planet in his tiny little corner of the universe.  
He’d been waiting to fly far, far away for a long time, and so those three days seemed like forever, with his escape so close and yet he had to wait.  
So stepping onto the tiny transporter, feeling takeoff like he had so many times before but watching through the window as the ship passed through the atmosphere, beyond the mesosphere and finally even out of the thermosphere, into true space.  
A place Jack had never been allowed in, outside of the boundaries of Earth, outside of the reach of Earth authorities. Free.  
The flight was long, almost a full day, but arriving at the base was a sight Jack wouldn't forget. It was small, but busy, coalition ships flying in and out of the bay constantly. And when their ship landed, the bay was so busy it was hard to understand where to go. The oxygen wall surrounding the base was clear, allowing Jack to look up and see the stars surrounding everything around him, and that’s what really made it sink in that he was gone from Earth.  
No matter where you were on Earth, stars were hard to see. In the city provinces, both light pollution and real pollution clouded the sky at night, and so stars had been impossible to see in Pitmedden. And in places outside of the cities, the light pollution was still so strong that only the brightest stars could be seen on a super clear night.  
Venzor was different. The lights weren’t bright enough to keep out the pinpoints of light surrounding the base, since there wasn’t even an atmosphere to start to block them at all. It was beautiful.  
Jack could tell he wasn't the only one who thought so. Most of the kids with him also couldn't seem to be able to stop looking around in wonder at the bright stars, the people in uniform walking, the bright buildings of the small military station. It was so different from Earth. Even the types of people. Aliens weren’t common at the academy, mostly just because Earth was in such a remote corner of the universe that most people couldn't really be bothered to come all the way to Earth to simply go to school. They weren't unheard of, simply not common.  
Here though, Jack couldn't look around without seeing somebody from somewhere not from Earth.  
The tiny Aloquok people from Vendeer, hurrying around almost beneath the feet of everybody else.  
Irikubi giants, towering over everyone else and walking gently.  
The almost cat like Ugeron, silently communicating with each other and signing out to other people.  
There was more diversity on the base that could house 15,000 people than at the entire academy, which had about 30,000 at any time. It was incredible, and Jack couldn't wait to have a chance to draw it.  
“Recruits!” A loud voice startled all of them. “If you are a recruit from Earth, please follow this way!” The group looked to the source of the voice, seeing Captain Pulitzer standing in front of them. The group followed him in silence, looking around impressed as they passed through buildings. “From now until your training is complete, this building will be where you live. Your dorms are on the second and third floors, the first floor is for studying and eating. You will be receiving in-depth training over the next six months, and this will be your home base.”  
“Sir? What will our training include?” Captain Pulitzer did not look particularly pleased at being interrupted, but Jack was grateful for Romeo’s inquiry.  
“All of you will acquire real-life experience in your field. For some of you, such as Mr. Kelly, that will include small missions into space. For others, such as Miss Plumber, that will involve being given a problem relative to your area of expertise and having to solve it under time constraints. It will be hard work, and you will be challenged. You are still students, and will be counted as students until I sign an evaluation form saying you are ready for active duty. You answer to me and other officers until we begin our mission, and then I and officers on my crew are you commanders. You will work as a team, just as any crew on any ship will. You will be evaluated regularly on how well you perform your duties, both while you are on base here and when we leave. That is all for now. Dinner will be served at second sevens, and your supervisors here will tell you the rest of your scheduling then.” With that, he turned and left abruptly, once more leaving the group slightly confused and on their own.  
“Well, I don't know about you, but considering we have two hours until dinner and nothing else planned, I’m going out.” Spot spoke up with his characteristic borderline mean tone.   
“What about our stuff?”  
“Our dorms are upstairs. I’m going to put stuff up there and then I’m leaving.”  
The city on the base was beautiful. Pitmedden was famous on Earth for being the only province entirely city-based, so Jack had plenty of experience in cities. But Venzor was entirely different.  
It wasn't pumping out factory waste, for one. All energy was delivered from the nuclear core at the center of the man-made planet, and so was clean, with the waste water recycled for temperature regulation for the rest of the city. Food supplies were grown beneath the streets or arrived on supply ships. It was an efficient system, and a clean one.  
Pitmedden wasn't known as the Pits for nothing. It was huge and sprawling, and still ran off more traditional forms of energy. The factories there still produced smoke and liquid waste, and it was known for being polluted and dark. It was also a poor city, the people living there didn't have enough money to fix things, so it stayed the same. It was a huge, winding, disorganized slum, and that’s all Jack had known until the academy.  
And now he was standing in a city where everyone was walking around in neatly pressed uniforms. No kids were slipping through the crowds begging, or pickpocketing, or selling stolen things. Every person walked with a purpose, nobody looked lost. Jack could take a deep breath without coughing, he could walk without protecting his pockets, he could move without bumping into people.  
It was utterly foreign.  
Jack wasn't quite sure he liked it.  
It felt almost like somebody had taken his home and flipped it around. It was beautiful, but it wasn't home at all, and yet it was close enough that it felt almost like it.  
“You look confused.” Charlie appeared out of nowhere next to him.  
“It’s...weird.”  
“What is?”  
“You didn't grow up in a city, did you?”  
“No. Just outside of one, though. This is pretty similar. Only...spacier.” Jack laughed.  
“Yeah, well, this is pretty far from my city. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”  
“I forgot Pitmedden isn't a clean city.”  
“It’s far from it.”  
“This is one of the best examples of a clean base in the universe. I read about it. The core is a new type, there’s only a couple of them in use. It can store energy, so it doesn’t have to be active a hundred percent of the time. And the same water cycles through the cooling system of the core and then up through the air coolers and back down again, and since it’s a closed system they only need to change the water due to outside effects. And the supply system is even crazier. Over twenty kinds of crops are grown below us, and four types of livestock. The entire underside of the city is covered in ultraviolet lights to let them grow and survive. This place is pretty much self-sustaining.” Charlie was looking around as he said everything, down at the street and up towards the oxygen wall to try to see the water regulators. Jack had never seen anyone as excited about sustainable space life other than a few teachers at the academy. “Considering what the first human-built station was like, this is incredible.”  
“The first one. The ISS? Before the coalition, right?”  
“Right. People only lived up there for six months, and it could only support about six people at a time. And supplies had to be flown up in shuttles, only a few plants were grown there and no livestock.”  
“We’ve come a long way.”   
“Yeah.” Charlie sighed quietly. “Back then I wouldn't be alive, I don't think.”  
“Why’s that?” Charlie knocked on his metal leg.  
“They didn't have the tech for this back then. Or the medical care to save me in the first place.”  
“They had prosthetics, didn't they? The space station wasn't _that _long ago.”__  
“Prosthetics, yeah. Not cyberbiotics. And they didn’t have advanced enough medical care.” Charlie was hesitated before continuing. “It was an accident. I wasn't born...legless. An old transporter in the city crashed when I was really little. I almost died with all of the tech we have now. Back then, I wouldn’t have survived.”  
“Sorry.” Jack hadn't meant to force Charlie into sharing his story.  
“No, it’s fine.” He smiled, but it almost looked forced. “It was a long time ago. And anyway, I’m fine now. But my point was, we’ve advanced incredibly far. From a space station that couldn't support life on its own to this.” He gestured around them.  
“And soon we’ll be in a ship heading for places that nobody has ever been to before.”  
“It’s amazing. Not so long ago humans thought they were alone and that they’d never get as far as we have, and yet here we are. Standing on the edge of the known universe, about to go farther than we have before. And we’re still advancing.”  
“Wow.”  
“Somebody’s read a lot of old books, huh?” Spot came up behind them.   
“I guess.”  
“You talk like people used to about going into space. Like it’s something that nobody has ever done before and something that’s incredible.”  
“You don't think so? That it’s incredible, I mean?”  
“No. It’s a job, just like any other job. The fact that I’m not on Earth is a bonus, but the fact that I’m in space doesn't make the job itself any better or worse. I’m just a doctor.”  
“Yeah, a space doctor. Traveling through space. In a spaceship. With aliens, probably. And you don't think that’s cool?”  
“Cool, sure. It’s a cool job. But it would be cool on Earth, too. Saving people is cool. Space doesn't make it any cooler.”  
“You're weird.”  
“I think he's too smart to feel emotions.” Jack chipped in, smiling to let Spot know it was a joke.  
“I have a very high emotional IQ, thank you very much.”  
“Having a high emotion IQ doesn't mean you're actually good with emotions it just means you're good at picking up on other people’s emotions.”  
“You’re both weird.” Charlie spoke up again. “I think space is cool.”  
“Space has an average temperature 2.7 Kelvin. It’s beyond cool.” Nobody was sure whether or not Davey has just come into the conversation too late to know what they were actually talking about or if he had just made a very bad joke. And his face didn't give anything away either. “It’s almost at absolute zero, which the complete absence of any heat movement at all. Which means even a second of exposure would kill a human.”  
“I thought you specialized in languages?”  
“I do.”  
“So why do you know that stuff off the top of your head?”  
“It’s useful information.”  
“Everybody involved in the conversation is weird and I’m hungry. Shouldn't we be getting back for dinner?”  
“Probably.” Jack was also hungry. “We should get back anyway.”


	6. Chapter 6

A week passed. Things started to fit into a routine. Breakfast, theory training, lunch, physical training, dinner, free time.  
A month, and things were normal. Everybody knew each other, pretty much everyone got along fine, they worked well together, and it seemed like they’d be successful.  
Two months, it was like Venzor was their home. They knew it well, and people knew them.  
Three months, four months. Five months. Training became less and less theory and more and more being set up in sims or sent on days long missions to test their teamwork. And those missions were where they started to notice things they’d have to work out.  
“I don't care if you're the fucking strategist, your plan will kill us all! Or at least enough of us will get hurt that I won't be able to save them all!”  
“My plan offers us the best chance of winning this fight!”  
“If you send every last bit of manpower we have into the heart of it-”  
“We have the best chance at taking out as many of them as possible-”  
“You’re sending too many people for the medbay to handle to a dangerous situation!”  
“If this were a real fight, we’d need to take the risk to make sure we’d win!”  
“If this were a real fight, you’d be telling me that I have to take care of more people than we are physically capable to, and you'd be sending the people we can't take care of to death!”  
Everybody who wasn't Spot and Race was sitting with their heads in their hands. Emotions ranged from awkward to entertained to fed up.  
Jack was definitely fed up. They’d been fighting non stop since this mission had started, three days ago.  
“I don't care if you think it’s impossible, it’s a risk we have to take!”  
“It’s not a risk we can afford to take!”  
“Both of you, stop it!” Jack finally spoke up. “You’re both being stupid!”  
“He’s gonna-”  
“He wants to-”  
“Stop! Both of you shut up!” They both glared at each other while Jack thought. “You can't fight like this forever, especially not once we’re actually on assignment! You need to find some way of getting along! Talk to each other, or something!” Spot snorted.  
“Like he knows how to talk like a normal person.”  
“Like you'd be willing.” Jack sighed.  
“Okay, I get that you’re both still bitter because you broke up, but frankly we can't afford to have that tension! Talk it out!” He could see they had no intention of listening to him, which prompted another sigh. “Fine. Come with me, both of you.”  
“Where?”   
“Just come.” Jack could tell the others were watching him. Spot and Race reluctantly followed him down towards the medbay. “Go in.” Spot and Race exchanged a confused look but both walked into the quarantine room Jack had pointed to. And promptly yelled angrily when Jack hit the button to seal them in.  
“What the fuck are you doing, Kelly!”   
“Talk. It. Out. Until you two get along, none of us will be able to work together. Until you’re capable of collaborating, you’re in here. I’ll make sure Buttons sends you food.” And with that Jack walked out of the medbay, leaving the two alone.   
“You can’t just leave us in here!” Spot was not pleased with the turn of events.  
“I don’t think we’re getting out.” Race had sat down on the bed already.   
“What does he expect us to do, resolve all our problems and never fight again?”  
“Obviously.”  
“What do you want me to say, Kelly?” Spot yelled up at the ceiling again.  
“Maybe sorry?” Race said.  
“Sorry for what? You're the one who-”  
“I’m the one who didn't know what to do so I did what I know how to do, which is plan. You're the one who stopped talking to me, for no reason, while we were still dating! And you're the one who broke up with me, not the other way around! I thought you were supposed to be the smart one! What happened to that high emotional IQ, huh?”  
“I broke up with you because you decided to control everything I did! It had nothing to do with me not being able to tell how you were feeling! It wasn't just dates, Race, you tried to control my friends and my life outside of our relationship!”  
“I did not!”  
“You did so!”  
“No I didn't!”  
“Yes you did!” Race started laughing suddenly. “I don't know what’s funny.”  
“We sound like kids, Spot, that’s why Jack sent us down here.” Race put on a whiny voice. “Did not, did too, did not, did too. We sound like we’re five.”  
“Not my fault.” Spot was sulking, which only made Race start laughing more.  
“Pouting, too. Boy, we sure are mature and functioning people, aren't we.”  
“I’m plenty mature!”  
“Spot. We just had an argument, and you’re claiming it’s not your fault. You’re pouting, and I refused to admit any fault either. You have to admit, neither of us are being very mature.” Spot huffed. “And you're not helping things. You're still acting like a kid.”  
“Ad you're not?”  
“We both are, okay? Maybe we should try talking like adults.”  
“Maybe we should.” Race looked at Spot expectantly.  
“What, you want me to start?”  
“Yes.”  
“What am I supposed to say?”  
“What did I do to make you hate me?”  
“I don't hate you. We don't work as a couple. You were too controlling, you didn't ever listen to me, and you don’t always listen to reason. I dated you because you’re cute, and it didn't work out.”  
“You act like you hate me.”  
“Sorry if it’s hard to be friends with somebody you broke up with.”  
“We could try.” Race said quietly.  
“Your turn.” Spot carefully avoided making eye contact.  
“You didn't talk enough. You never wanted to do anything with any of my friends, and it felt like you were trying to hide our relationship. I felt like I was doing all the work to keep us together, and I wasn't surprised when you broke up with me.” He paused. “But it still hurt. I liked you, a lot.” Neither of them had anything else to say, it seemed.  
“We should try again.” Race’s eyebrow shot up.  
“Dating? You think that’s a good idea?”  
“No! No. Not dating. Being friends. We should try to be friends again.” Spot looked directly at Race for what seemed like the first time. “When you’re not being an asshole, you can be nice. Funny. Jack’s right, this won't work if we can’t not fight. We all need to work together, and currently we aren't doing that. You’re right, we were acting like kids. We need to grow up and learn to get along.” Race laughed quietly.  
“That’s the most you’ve said to me at once since we‘d been dating for a month. But you're right. I’m sorry, okay? For anything I’ve done, or said, or whatever. I didn't mean to control you.”  
“I’m sorry I didn't talk. I’m sorry I wasn't affectionate, I’m just not an affectionate person. And I’m sorry for not being as active in our relationship as you thought I should be. Whatever I did that made you think I didn't care, I’m sorry.” Spot kicked the wall he was closest too, in the kind of way that showed how hard it was to say that. “I’m not the best at...dealing with feelings.”  
“I think I know that.” Spot huffed out a little laugh.  
“I guess you do.” They were both quiet after that.  
“The door is unlocked. Come out any time.” Jack’s voice came on over the intercom. Race stood up incredulously and tried the door.  
“The little shit didn't even close the door all the way! We could have walked out whenever we wanted!”  
“Fucker.” Spot muttered. Race pulled the door open and let Spot out first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spot and Race are little shits who don't follow the plot I had set and instead made me rearrange it.


	7. Chapter 7

“You locked them. In a quarantine bay.”  
“No sir.”  
“Mr. Kelly, we have video footage of you locking them in a quarantine bay. I don't know why you're denying it.”  
“Sir, I did put them in the bay. However, they weren't locked it. I didn't lock the door, because I was aware of the risks that would pose. I put them in and closed the door but did lock them in, because I am aware that that would be against protocol.” Jack defiantly met Captain Pulitzer’s eyes.  
“Pushing the button locks the door automatically.”  
“Not if you override the lock manually, which I did. All it takes is an officer’s handprint and command to unlock it, which I did immediately after I closed the door. I’m aware that the method I used was unconventional, but I maintain that it worked and was worthwhile.”  
“Mr. Kelly, you took two of your valuable subordinates and locked them in a room while you continued to do your job on the bridge. That is unacceptable.”  
“Sir, the two people you are referring to do not work well together, because of personal issues they have with each other from their time at the academy. They refused to talk it out on their own time, and their constant arguing was a detriment to the effectivity of my crew. They were never in any danger, and if they had thought to try the door, they would have been able to get out.”  
“Personal issues should not affect the working relationships on board.”  
“Yes sir, which is exactly why I needed them to talk it out. They couldn't have a simple conversation without arguing. By keeping them together in a situation they thought they couldn't get out of, they were forced to talk. For the rest of the mission, they could actually work together for the first time since I’ve known them.”  
“Mr. Kelly, regardless of how well it ended up, your methods were not acceptable. You will be disciplined.”  
“Yes sir.” Jack held his head high and met Captain Pulitzer’s eye.  
“You disagree?”  
“I do.”  
“Explain yourself.” Jack had to restrain an eyeroll and a sigh.  
“I already did, sir. I’m aware that my methods were unconventional, but they worked. Two of my men are able to work together now, whereas they were not able to before. Nobody was in any real danger, and I didn't actually lock them in. They were able to walk at at any time, they simply neglected to try the door. Everything worked out well, and we are functioning better now because of it. Pilot and captains are taught to find the way around a problem that will be efficient and effective, and my solution was both.”  
“The fact still stands you went against protocol in a situation that was far from an emergency.”  
“Nowhere in protocol is it written that a captain cannot take action to ensure his team is working to the best of their ability. My methods were, again, unconventional, but they worked. I hold that I did not do anything wrong.” Captain Pulitzer held his eye, watching for Jack to do...something.   
“Fine. Consider this a warning that we do not put up with shenanigans. If something like this occurs again, expect to be disciplined.”  
“Yes sir.”  
“Dismissed.” Jack walked out the door, relaxing once it was shut behind him.  
“What did he want? What did he say? Did you get in trouble?” Jack hadn't expected the sudden rush of questions from the people who had apparently been waiting for him outside the door.  
“It wasn't a big deal, and I didn't get in trouble. I’m just not allowed to lock people in the medbay anymore.” Jack grinned. “At first he wanted to discipline me, but I convinced him that it was for the greater good, so he let me off with a warning.”  
“I mean they are managing to talk without blowing up now, so I think it was worth it.”  
“That's what I said. He wasn't happy about it, but he conceded the point and let me off.” Katherine tilted her head.  
“I’ve never heard you talk like this.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“You're using much fancier language than you usually do.”  
“Oh.” Jack though for a second, trying to pinpoint what she meant. “I guess maybe I talk better when I’m talking to authority figures?”  
“And just like that, smart Jack is gone.” Sarah laughed at Katherine’s comment.  
“Gone until he gets in trouble again, anyway.”  
“I’m not going to get in trouble again. I’m a changed man.” Jack grinned at the small group of people surrounding him.  
“Please. Jack “I stole a transport ship and managed to get into the academy where I stole another ship and made my way through the hardest test for pilots my first year” Kelly is never going to get in trouble with authority again? With Captain Pulitzer as our boss? Not likely.” Jack had never heard Sarah say much outside of training scenarios, and had assumed her to be like her brother. Davey had no grasp on sarcasm at all, had a very dry sense of humor, and was extremely passive aggressive.   
Sarah, Jack learned from that one remark, was none of those things.  
“You’re sure you and Davey are siblings?”  
“Yes.” That was all Jack got from her.  
“At least stay out of trouble for the rest of training, Jack.”  
“I’ll try.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Get your asses out of bed, recruits. Now.” The voice was familiar, but Jack wasn't awake enough to quite identify who it was. “That means you, Kelly. Get up!” He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and shook his head to clear it. Before he could sit up, however, somebody was pulling the blankets off him.  
“I’m awake already!”  
“Get out of bed. In case you've forgotten, you're leaving today. All of you, get up!” Oscar Delancey. That's who the voice belonged to. The man who was only a few years older than them and yet was one of the people high up on the chain of command under Captain Pulitzer. He and his brother hated Jack and his crew, mostly because they got their own ship while the brothers were still under the command of someone else. Davey, Charlie and Finch were sitting up, waking up. The night lights were still shining through the windows of the dorm, the sun lights weren't on yet, and the city was as quiet as it ever was. Other than the shouting coming from the Delancey brothers as they woke up the other dorm rooms.  
“We leave today.” Charlie sounded slightly dazed, and Jack couldn't tell if it was from being woken up roughly and so early or from the fact that they would be leaving base in a few hours and not coming back for a long time.  
“Yeah.” Finch was one of the more quiet ones, working in communications with Davey, but he and Charlie seemed to get along great. “We’ll be gone for a long time.”  
“Five years, give or take a few days.” Davey piped in with his ever present facts. “In fact, although our assignment is for five years, it’s quite possible the actual length will be much longer. As the nature of the expedition is exploration-”  
“No offense, Dave, but it’s only first threes. If you could maybe hold on the facts until we’re all fully awake, that’d be nice. After all, we’ll have more than five years to share all the stuff we know with each other, yeah?”  
“Yeah. Sorry.” After that, Davey was quieter, but he was visibly keeping himself from saying things. And some of them, Jack thought, he knew already.  
Like as they stood in a group, yawning, waiting to board their new ship, Davey started to say something but cut himself off, noticing some people already start to prepare themselves for his fact spew.   
And Jack was almost positive he had been going to say something about the building of the ship, how it had been specially designed to be run by a smaller crew than most exploration vessels, how it had maximum storage space with minimal waste of space, and how they would have to adjust to how differently such a different type of ship was versus the similar ships they'd been training in.  
And when they were running the checklist for the first time, under the critical eye of Captain Pulitzer, Jack again saw Davey start a sentence and not get very far, and it was clear he was about to go into an analysis of the checklist and why every item was important.   
Everyone kept looking up at the linguist, waiting for him to finally burst.  
And the dam broke right after they took off.  
“The first flight into space carrying a human took place on April 12, 1961, and was from the old Earth country of Russia. The flight lasted only 108 minutes, and was only a single orbit around the earth. The human in question was Yuri Gagarin, and he survived the flight. He was later killed flying a simple atmospheric plane, which is ironic because the government of his country hadn't allowed him back in space at the risk of his life. When American astronauts later landed on the moon, they left a medallion behind to commemorate the first human in space.”  
“Why does he know that off the top of his head?” Romeo was mystified as he played with the holomap system. “I didn't know that, and my mom is a historian.”  
“She is?” Davey’s eyes lit up. “Does she have history books?”  
“Our apartment is full of them. She has some really old ones, that are valuable.”  
“Wow.”   
“What sort of valuable ones? From old earth? Preserved? Are they still readable?”  
“I don't know how old they are, but some of them have to be kept in a special case-whoah.” Romeo’s map had been spinning wildly, taking him on a rapid fire tour of the known universe. His answers to Davey had been somewhat absent-minded as he fiddled with the controls, getting himself acquainted with the map he’d be relying on for the next five years. As he’d talked, he’d hit a button that had put up a holograph nobody had ever seen. Instead of the usual show of either zoomed out star clusters or close ups of solar systems, it was a blank map, not labeled or showing anything but the graph. Several buttons were flashing on the control panel, and Romeo seemed very excited by them.   
“I can edit the maps! I can mark new places! Look how cool that is!” Romeo hit a button, and a vague shape flew up onto the map. A few more presses and it was defined was SD19084865a, located and labeled as being 586 parsecs away from the nearest known galaxy.  
“Did you just make up a star?”  
“Yes! Look! It looks so official!” Romeo sighed happily before hitting a final button and deleting the star, leaving the map open and blank again. “This is so cool.” Jack was listening halfway as he messed around with some of his controls.  
There were way more of them on this ship than on the training ship, and some of the things he'd only ever seen in diagrams, not even on sims. There was a weapons _menu _, with options ranging from long range missiles to a version of the hand blasters used by security crews. There were buttons for opening all the storage bays at once, in case of an emergency that required dumping supplies, and for deploying escape pods. Buttons that would turn off com systems, and to completely lock down any section of the ship, including a special one to lock down the quarantine bays. And all these buttons were laid out on the control pad wrapped around the captain’s seat, which in this case also contained the controls for the actual piloting of the ship. So many buttons, so many controls, and Jack had never been happier for autopilot in his life. He only had to keep an eye on everything, he wasn't actively flying the ship at all times.__  
It was scary.  
But it was awesome.   
And it was obvious that everyone felt that way as they all messed around with whatever tech surrounded their stations on the bridge.   
Spot was sitting in the medbay, messing around with a fancy vitals reader. It had different setting for different species categories, from humanoid to something simply labeled “blob mode.” Spot had only ever heard of one blob shaped typed of alien, and it wasn’t something he’d want to meet, let alone give medical care to.  
Security officers, like Buttons, were wandering the ship, exploring all the hidden areas that they would need to know inside and out. All thirty of the young, newly made explorers were getting accustomed to being on their own, in command of their own ship, their own jobs, and it felt awesome. The youngest team of officers currently operating in the universe, proud and happy to be out doing what they were good at.


	9. Chapter 9

“68 bottles of beer on the wall, 68 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 67 bottles of beer on the wall.” Jack grit his teeth and tried to ignore the quiet singing coming from Skittery. “67 bottles of beer on the wall, 67 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 66 bottles of beer on the wall.”  
“Skits, we love you, but please shut the fuck up.” Spot was not as tolerant as Jack tried to be.  
“I’m bored.”   
“So are the rest of us, and we don't want to deal with that stupid song any more. It’s been at least an hour of you counting up and down. Shut. Up.”  
The excitement to be on their own ship that had been ever present for the first few days had quickly worn off. Nothing was happening except hours and hours of flashing past galaxies. The most exciting thing had been a jump to hyperspace only a few days into the trip. And that had lasted about half an hour, had only been to show the young crew what it was like, and hadn't got them anywhere exciting. They were taking their sweet time getting to the edge of the known universe, and Jack wasn't sure exactly why, but it was driving him crazy. He liked everyone, but when it had been a month without anything exciting happening, even people he liked were starting to get slightly annoying.   
There was momentary quiet, and then everybody sighed quietly when Skittery started singing again.  
“66 bottles of beer on the wall, 66 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 65 bottles of beer on the wall.”  
“Skittery. I swear to every fucking deity that any civilization has ever believed in, if you don't stop singing, I will lock you in the quarantine and not let you out until we need you.” Spot glowered. “And I have an override code that will keep Jack or anyone else stationed up here from letting you out. Shut the fuck up.”   
Spot was a small guy. He was just barely over five feet tall, and he was slim. He didn't look intimidating from a distance. But after a month with the guy, Jack could say that he would listen to Spot in an instant. He was trustworthy, first of all, and if he was telling the crew that they needed to do something, he meant it. He carried himself with all the self assurance of a larger man, and he spoke with enough authority that it was hard to think he wasn't always completely confident in what he was saying.   
He was also a master of the death glare, and it was terrifying. He seemed to swell every time, and his eyes flashed, and his lip twitched, and it looked like he was ready to kill somebody.   
People listened when Spot Conlon glared at them. Every time.  
So nobody was surprised when Skittery shrunk back and snapped his mouth shut when Spot glared at him.  
People were surprised when somebody talked back, and it wasn't even Skittery.  
“Leave him alone, we’re all bored as fuck.” Race was slouched into a chair in a different corner, and as soon as he spoke somewhat confrontationally to Spot, Jack was ready for action. They hadn't quite fought since they'd left, but the tension was still there, and Jack was prepared for a blow up like they'd faced in training.  
“I don't care if he's bored as fuck, that song was annoying as fuck the first time he got to fifty. We’re on the fourth. I can't take it any more.”  
“So go back to your medbay and amuse yourself. Attrattività non uguaglia di stato. You don't get to boss people around, you aren't the captain.” Race whispered in the other language beneath his breath, but Davey immediately perked his head up in amusement.  
“I’m pretty sure the captain would agree with me here. That song is from before we could even send humans farther than Earth’s moon. It fucking sucks, and is annoying as fuck.” Spot and Race both looked at Jack.  
“Leave me out of it.” Spot huffed, looking frustrated.  
“Just stop singing that song, Skittery. Please.”  
“Okay.” Skittery said simply.  
There was a blissful few minutes of silence.  
“Here we go round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush. Here we go round the mulberry bush, so early in the morning.”  
“Stop. Fucking. Singing.” Spot’s eyes were flashing more than Jack had ever seen, and the tiny boy seemed to have swelled to twice his size.  
“What if I don't want to?” Skittery looked at Race, who was agreeing with him. “He’s right, you're not in charge.”   
“I’m sure I’m not the only one you're driving insane.”   
“Just leave him alone.” Jack could see the tension rising between Spot and Race.  
“You two, stop fighting. Nobody wants to deal with _that _again.”__  
“We’re not fighting. We’re disagreeing.”  
“Stop.” Jack said as firmly as he could. Spot huffed again and just walked out. “But Skittery, please sing something else. Something not annoying.” Jack looked quickly at Race, but he hadn't reacted. He’d turned back to his tablet, writing out as many strategies as he could think of. Skittery’s singing stopped, but he was humming quietly.   
Jack sighed, and things went back to what had been going on before.  
Monotonous beeps, quiet talking, the sound of the engine and core. Plain, simple, ordinary, boring.  
The usual.


	10. Chapter 10

“Captain’s log, twenty ninth of Kosar.” Jack was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. “Day 200. Nothing happened. Again. Well, Spot and Race fought again, but that’s very normal. Today it was over salt. Again. I think that makes seven times over salt, four times over pepper. Six over dried fruit. Nine over strategie, and one spectacular one over who had to clean the bathroom. Plus assorted smaller fights. Romeo designed an entire new galaxy, and promptly deleted it again. Davey started to teach himself another new language, Kat coded more protocols into some little thing she was building and then let it loose. It’s now chasing us around the ship at ankle level and we don’t know where it went. Only Kat and Sarah find it funny, the little shit bites somehow. Finch and Skittery hid for all of the cleaning, so we made them organize the storage units. It was a pretty normal day. We are approximately four weeks away from reaching unexplored territory, and we’ll be stopping for supplies for the last time in nineteen days. Until then, we’re hoping nobody gets seriously hurt by Grievance the ankle biting robot, and that Spot and Race will make it three days without fighting. At least, I hope that. I’ve got twenty credits on it.” He hit the button to stop the recording and stared at the ceiling some more. Nothing important had happened yet, and the entire crew was slowly going stir crazy.  
His logs were devolving into more of a diary than a record, but he was required to do it every day.  
“Captain’s log, thirtieth of Kosar. Day 201. We’ve finally had a casualty. Grievance the ankle biter somehow made his way into the trash chute, and nobody’s quite sure if he crawled in there himself or if someone tossed him, but most of us are glad. I think Kat’s already started to build Grievance 2.0, though. Hopefully this time he won’t be so mean. Spot and Race a didn't fight today, which is good. Two more and I have twenty more credits to get something for myself before the mission actually starts. Spot figured out how to use one of his zappy medical...things, and chose to amuse himself by sitting outside the bridge and hitting everyone who entered or exited the bridge with a beam of orangish light. It tickled. He got me at least six times before I learned to tell him not to before even opening the door. Race wasn't even there. I actually don't know where he was until dinner, which in concerning. I should probably check on that tomorrow. Anyway, nothing to report other than a normal, boring day.”  
“Captain’s log, first of Zevtar. Day 202. Grievance 2.0 is up and running and he’s worse than before. This time Kat used a camera of some kind and it’s programmed with facial recognition. It doesn't attack Kat or Sarah, and it especially seems to like Buttons and Charlie. I think mostly because Buttons is probably the one who tossed version one. I have no idea why the stupid thing likes Charlie so much. I must have kicked it away from the poor guy at least twenty times today. Finch tested Davey on his new language. He’s fluent, of course. Two days. He said it was similar to a language he already knew, which is why it only took two days. Spot and Race didn't fight today, either, so if they make it through tomorrow, I won the bet. Race disappeared again today. I couldn't find him anywhere, which makes me very nervous. I feel like he’s doing something, and that can't be good. He’s a genius, but when he gets bored he uses it to get up to no good, and we’re all extremely bored. Nothing has happened. Captain Pulitzer hasn't spoken to us in days, and so we’ve just been doing the same as always. Absolutely nothing.”  
“Captain’s log, second of Zevtar. Day 203. We turned off the gravity for fun today. Until we realized that Grievance 2.0, when floating, can still propel himself-itself? I dunno. Anyway, he can still move when he’s floating because his propulsion system uses air jets, and it hurts a lot more when he gets your face versus your ankles. And 2.0 is a lot faster than version one, so we can't even catch him. So the gravity only stayed off for a little while, and then we went back to normal. Spot and Race made it three days, so I won my bet. Race was gone again all day, though, so I’m even more nervous now than I was before. I have no idea where he’s hiding, it’s not like the ship is that big. I also have absolutely no idea what he could be doing, since he’s a strategist, and it’s not like he can build things really. I’m planning to find him tomorrow; I can't afford to have him...blow something up. Or someone. Or Grievance. I actually wouldn't put it past him to blow up Grievance. Kat keeps making adjustments, and he’s getting better and worse at the same time. He leaves Charlie alone more, but now he goes after Spot a lot more. Speaking of Spot, he has a new setting on his zappy thing and now it makes welts appear when it hits you, but it still doesn't hurt. It’s really weird. It made the robot stop moving, and after that Kat made him go after Spot. Grievance is quickly becoming a member of the crew. At this rate, he’ll hate all of us by next week.” Jack clicked off the recorder with a sigh, and turned out the lights.  
Nothing was happening.  
And it was boring.  
Grievance was the only thing that kept everyone from going insane, and it wasn't like getting bit on the ankles by a robot with pointy little teeth was pleasant. Just a change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh fun fact, I accidentally got really attached to Grievance? He's like my favorite OC pretty much ever I think. He just a little robot who bites people without real malicious intent, what's not to like? He looks kinda like a cross between BB-8 and a Roomba, with a mouth with pointy teeth. Kat and Saz love him, mostly everyone else hates him right now. Anyway, I love Grievance.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a short one but I promise the rest of the plot is starting now.

“Captain's log, seventh of Grozdober. Day sixty nine of explorations. We’ve reached the system we saw yesterday, Romeo is greatly enjoying getting put in and save the stars we’re finding. As of yet, no planets have been found, but we’re coming up on a two star system that appears to have several orbital bodies that may have life. If so, obviously none of them have reached Order Three yet, so we won't be approaching if possible. Things are picking up as we keep getting further along, but life inside the ship continues to be boring for most of us. Romeo is having fun, and Itey has finally gotten our crop bay to produce more food, he's also enjoying himself. Every once in a while, I get to actually fly the ship, too, but the rest of the time we’re all still sitting around. We left almost a year ago, which seems crazy. Anyway, tomorrow we’ll reach orbiting bodies and should be able to see if there’s observable life. That's it.” Jack had given up on recording his logs in bed, preferring to sit in the pilot’s seat and either spin around or look out at the stars. Most people went to bed before he started recording, so he was usually alone.  
“Is that what all your logs are like?” Charlie was the only one who was up tonight, under one of Katherine’s control panels, repairing some wiring. “Oop, there's a spark.”  
“What do you mean?” Only the boy’s legs were sticking out and his voice was echoey from the inside of the panel.  
“So formal? I don't know, it sounded like you were talking to like, Captain Pulitzer or something.”  
“He checks them sometimes. And on days when nothing happens it more like a diary than a log.”  
“Really?”  
“Yeah. Grievance has his own system of organization. Days when he bit me, days when he bit you, days Race zapped him, days Spot zapped him, there’s like five featuring the adventures of his short lived camera.”  
“Remember-ow-remember the time he caught-oof-caught Race singing and dancing?”  
“Yeah, that was funny. What are you doing under there, anyway?”  
“Kat overloaded a wire and couldn't fix it herself, but-ouch-it turns out there’s some actual damage to some of the internal stuff. Which is funny, since I checked it out like two weeks ago, it kind of looks like somebody kicked the panel really hard. There’s a bunch of dents and some wires are out all together. I should check the rest of them, too.”  
“Tonight? It’s already first ones.”  
“You’re still up.”  
“Best time to enjoy the stars.” Jack smiled in Charlie’s general direction, but he was still under the panel.  
“I believe any time of day is the best to see the stars when we’re traveling through space.”  
“Shh, and pretend we’re still on Earth. Looking at the stars from the roof of the academy. Seeing that.” Charlie slid out, slamming the panel shut, looking out the window like Jack was. Jack looked over and had a moment.  
That one specific moment that he'd had maybe once before.  
Charlie had a small smile on his face, and there were grease smudges where he’d wiped his face with his hands.  
He was lit up more from the bright light of the stars than the dim lights on the bridge.  
He looked like he was glowing, and Jack knew in that second that he hadn't been imagining anything.  
Charlie Morris, the tiny little genius mechanic, was the most beautiful person Jack had ever seen, and he had a massive crush on him.  
“It’s pretty. Nobody but us and Captain Pulitzer’s team has seen this exact view.”  
“Yeah.” Jack stood up and stretched, trying to avoid eye contact. “I think it really is time for bed. For both of us.”  
“Is that an order?”  
“Captain’s order. Bed, Morris.” Charlie laughed and bumped his shoulder against Jack’s on his way towards the door.  
“Fine. I’ll fix the rest tomorrow.”  
“That's a good plan.” Jack flopped back down into the pilot’s chair as soon as the door closed behind Charlie, pulling up his drawings on his tablet.  
Charlie started to take form, looking out over the stars, grease on his cheeks, standing in front of the huge window. The doors opened again and Jack shut the screen down, already blushing. A quiet whir let him know it was only Grievance 4.3.   
“Hey buddy.” The little robot bumped up against the chair. “Do robots get crushes? I mean, I guess AI would, but you're too simple, huh? Anyway, they suck. Don't let Kat make you smart enough to get crushes ‘cause they’re not fun.” Jack started drawing again, ignoring Grievance climbing up his chair. “He’s cute, buddy, look at him. He has those eyes. Cute. And that nice hair that looks real soft. He's outta my league. I mean, I’m from the Pits, man. It’s not like people are lining up to date me. Although, I have a feeling the whole pilot for the coalition thing might get a few more people liking me. But what's the point of other people liking me if _he _doesn't like me. I just want _him _to like me now. I’m fucked, Grievance. Crushes are. Not fun.” The background took shape around Charlie’s form. “Goodnight, Grievance. Take a nap, charge your battery, whatever.” Jack shut off his tablet entirely and checked the systems one last time before finally heading to bed.____


	12. Chapter 12

“Life! Life! We found a new planet! With life!” Jack was woken up by Skittery running into his room. “Intelligent life! There’s villages and cities and people have some sort of transportation and we think they’ve even hit Order Two but we aren't sure there appears to be some kind of manufactured satellites orbiting! They may be only a few years from beginning to broadcast and explore! They could be ready for contact by the time we pass through here on the tail end of our journey! Life, Jack! A new species, possibly! Probably even! Do you understand what that means, Jack? We! Have! Discovered a new civilization!” Skittery was almost humming with excitement, and Jack could practically hear the scream he was holding back.  
Romeo wasn't so subtle.  
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Planet classifications!!!! And PEOPLE GROUPS!!!” He poked his through Jack’s door and let out another shriek of joy. “LIFE!”  
Jack groaned and covered his ears with his pillow.  
“Jack! C’mon, man, you have to see this! We can see the people down there! They’re an entirely new species, as far as we can tell!” Buttons was the next one through his door.  
“Jack! Captain fucking Jack! My god, man, get your ass out of bed and look at this!” Jack had never heard Spot so excited.  
“Jack!” Charlie was bouncing, his metal leg clanging every time he landed. “You actually need to come see this! It’s incredible!” Jack rolled over.  
“I’m coming, already. Give me a second.”  
“Come _on _!” Charle yanked Jack’s arm, pulling him out of bed and towards the bridge.  
“Charlie, I’m in my underwear.”  
“So’s half the crew, nobody cares! Come on, it’s amazing!” Charlie pushed Jack through the door, into the bridge that was crowded with almost the entire crew, all gaping up at the screen displaying the scene of the planet they were close to.   
The telescopes and terrain readers were all scanning the planet that they were just far enough away from to avoid being seen by the people below them. The huge window that usually looked out into space had been filled with the images that were being picked up.   
A map to the right that showed mountain ranges and lakes, as well as marking places that places the inhabitants had built on.  
Other screens showed zooms on the villages and cities, proving that the life was very intelligent. There were things almost like old Earth cars, and the structures were well designed and sturdy looking.  
The more city like areas showed clear signs of planning, with streets gridding across the generally circular cities.  
And the people.  
Jack couldn't stop looking at the photographs of the people.  
They were humanoid enough that Jack supposed a silhouette could be mistaken for a human. But they were so different that he instantly wanted to draw them.  
Their skin was almost translucent, showing their veins, and pale. The closest species Jack could compare them to were the Ugeron people, but they were more in between humans and the silent species.   
Their eyes, in the photos Jack could see them in, were brightly colored and large. They were almost surreal, in a beautiful way.  
“Wow.”  
“They don’t seem to be speaking at all, yet they communicate. Look.” Davey was carefully watching one of the live feeds from one of the cities. “See, their mouths never move, but they’re all weaving around each other and helping each other. They’re communicating silently.”  
“Their hands. Look at their hands.” Romeo had joined Jack and Davey. “It’s kind of like sign language, don't you think?”  
“You're right.” Jack picked up on the same thing as Romeo. “It’s not the same though. It’s more like their whole body gets into it.”  
“Yeah.” Davey was silent, chewing on his lip.  
“It’s fascinating. I wonder if they choose not to speak or if it’s impractical in some way.”  
“Who knows.” Jack watched the way they moved, almost like they were dancing everywhere. “It’s pretty.”  
“This whole place is pretty. The main species, the flora and non-dominant fauna, look at it. Everything is so pretty.” Romeo was enraptured by the planet below them.  
“Captain Pulitzer is coming over.” Tumbler called. “He’ll be here in a second to talk to us about procedures and stuff like that for finding a new inhabited planet.”  
“How soon?” More than one panicked crew member made a dash for their rooms, trying to get dressed before Captain Pulitzer arrived. Jack was one of them. As the transport beam started to light up, everybody was lining up respectfully on the bridge. Jack made it just as Captain Pulitzer started to become visible.  
“Captain Pulitzer.”  
“Mr. Kelly. I see you’ve all started your observations of the life on this planet. Good job.”  
“Yes, sir. We’re recording all of this footage, as well as the readings from all the other instruments.”  
“Very good.” Captain Pulitzer stepped up and looked over the monitors. “And it’s being saved into the database?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Perfect.” Everybody stood up straight, answering Captain Pulitzer’s questions as he asked them. When he left, several people audibly sighed, and everyone visibly relaxed.  
“He’s so intimidating.” Romeo said. “Like, I appreciate that he’s teaching us and he’s a great captain and all but he’s so scary. I wish he would relax a little bit.”  
“Something isn't right about him.” Spot remarked. “He displays no emotion at all, even when he’s saying happy or angry things.”  
“Neither do you.” Race said.  
“I get angry. And I laugh and smile. I don’t show much emotion, but it’s there. Pulitzer is just...blank.” Spot smiled briefly, like he was trying to prove his point. “I think he’s an android.”  
“He’s the most renowned captain in the coalition. I’m pretty sure he's allowed to be distant.” Sarah spoke up, relaxing back into her chair. Katherine snorted quietly and shook her head.  
“Nah, Spot’s right. There’s being distant and then there’s being _him _.”____  
“What do you mean by that?”  
“Spot doesn't show a lot of emotion, but everyone knows that’s just because he has a napoleon complex and wants to make up for being tiny. D-Captain Pulitzer doesn't show emotion because he doesn't feel it. He’s blank, just like Spot said. He doesn't care enough about anything to show emotion at all.”  
“I do not have a napoleon complex! I am perfectly okay with my height!”  
“Sure you are, shortstack.” Race muttered. Spot whirled to face him.  
“Don’t call me that!”  
“Then don't pretend you don't wish you were taller.”  
“I don't!”  
“Awful defensive.”  
“Shut up, both of you.” Jack interjected, bored. “Nobody wants to listen to you fight, go somewhere else or be quiet.” Spot huffed and stormed out, and nobody was quite surprised that Race followed him, still arguing.  
“Do you think they fight because they don't know how to tell each other that they like each other or because they just like fighting?” Romeo asked.  
“Race definitely still likes Spot. Spot’s an argumentative person, though, so I’m not sure about him.” Davey said. “Race forgets I speak Italian sometimes; half the time when he’s yelling he’s yelling about how attractive Spot is and how annoying it is that he’s so attractive.”  
“Really?” Katherine was suddenly very interested.  
“Yeah, why?”  
“Because Spot talks to himself sometimes when he doesn't realize I’m in the medbay working and it’s usually about how much he wishes he could fix what he had with Race.”  
“Spot Conlon talks to himself?”  
“Either to himself or to Grievance, I think. None of us are in there, he thinks he's alone.”  
“Ooh, we should get them together.” Romeo’s eyes lit up.  
“Romeo, they've been together before and it didn’t end well. If they’re going to try again, they need to do it themselves.”  
“We could make them-”  
“Romeo, leave them alone. They'll figure it out.” Romeo groaned melodramatically.  
“But that’ll take forever! Can't we just-”  
“No.” Jack said firmly.  
“But-”  
“Romeo. Drop it. They’ll figure it out somehow, and it’s none of our business.”  
“Fine.” Romeo sighed even more dramatically than he had groaned. “I’ll leave them alone.”  
“Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it has been forever and ever since I updated this! Partly because I don't have a computer over the summer and so it's hard to update, but also because I just never got around to it! But this is the first chapter that really starts to advance the plot a lot, so yay for that!
> 
> Come yell with me on Tumblr any time! I'm @gay-newsboys!


	13. Chapter 13

For the next few days, the new normal was observing the planet, staying away from the satellites that they were almost positive were advanced enough to get readings. They were about one planet back from the habitable one, watching. Somebody was on the bridge at all times, watching and recording.  
Jack wasn't allowed to do night duty after somebody, he suspected Charlie, told Davey that Jack would stay up all night and all day if somebody didn't make him go to sleep, so he was lying in bed, watching movies.  
“Jack!” The door flew open and Davey rushed in.”Something is happening!”  
“What?”  
“We don't know! One of the satellites just like, exploded or something, and Pulitzer’s ship won't answer us, all of us on the bridge are confused!” Jack flew out of bed and pulled on some semblance of clothes, rushing into the bridge.  
The satellite they had been closest to was gone, and Romeo was sitting and replaying footage of the thing blowing up.  
“There’s no evidence of anything hitting it, but there’s also no evidence of it having technical troubles before. It seems like some outside force must have impacted it in some way.” Jack sat down at the communications desk and started fiddling.  
“Rome, try looking at the electrical and thermal readings, see if something shows up there. SEV Invictus, come in, SEV Pilgrim reporting. Jack Kelly, acting captain, speaking. Come in, SEV Invictus, come in. Requesting advice.” Jack couldn't hear any interference, it seemed as though the message should have gotten through, but nobody responded. “Hello? SEV Pilgrim, acting captain Jack Kelly reporting. Please, Invictus, come in.” Davey stood behind him.  
“I’ve been trying that for about fifteen minutes. At first we though the satellite was just a malfunction, but there wasn't any evidence of that, so we started trying to make contact with Pulitzer, but the Invictus won't respond.”  
“Is Charlie awake? Or Kat? Either of them might be able to see if there’s something wrong with the communicators.”  
“Neither right now, but I’m sure one of them could be.”  
“Go get one of them, please.”  
“Jack, the electrical readings show abnormalities, but I’m not sure what it means.” Romeo was frowning at his screen. “A few minutes before it exploded, it was normal. Then there’s a sudden spike that comes from somewhere outside the closed system of the satellite, and then it blows up. The spike doesn't pick up on the thermal readings though, so I have no idea what caused it.”  
“I don't know, Rome, this whole thing seems weird. We need to talk to Pulitzer.” Jack watched the filtered video over Romeo’s shoulder.  
“What the problem?” Charlie’s sleepy voice entered the bridge.  
“The communicator doesn't seem to be working, but I don't know why.” Charlie pulled open the control panel.  
“Did you check the broadcast strength? No interference?”  
“Nothing obvious seemed wrong, at least nothing obvious to me.”  
“Mm.” Charlie popped up to look at the screen, frowning. “All the wiring is fine, and you’re right about broadcast strength. Let me-” He cut himself off and started poking around inside the panel. “There’s nothing wrong with it; it must be something on the Invictus or else they're just not answering.” Charlie’s frown deepened as he closed it again.  
“Maybe the explosion-”  
“I don't think so. It’s not affecting us.”  
“Jack,” Romeo said quietly. “What the hell is happening.” Jack looked up to see him looking out the main window, looking shocked. Jack turned to look.  
One of the three small orbiting bodies, classified as pseudo-moons, was glowing brightly, an almost orange color.  
“Why does it look like something is...heating it. Like it’s going to blow up.”  
“I have no idea.” Jack walked closer, almost as mesmerised as he was scared. “Thermal readings?” He snapped out of it enough to ask.  
“Hot. Like, really hot.” Charlie said. Charlie flipped through several pages as data scrolled past, his eyes flicking back and forth. Jack couldn't look away from the pseudo-moon as the glowing intensified, the surface began to crack, showing even brighter light below it. “Jack, it’s getting too hot. We need to move.” Charlie’s voice betrayed a carefully controlled panic, spurring Jack to spin away from the window and hit the button to call all the dorms.  
“All crew to the bridge, preparations for emergency situations required.” He sat down and was once again facing the window, watching as pieces began to detach from the red-hot moon and glow even brighter as they fell through the atmosphere of the planet below them. Most of the first pieces were small enough to burn completely before impact, but the first one that hit the surface, Jack saw. It was a small piece by the time it reached the ground, but big enough that the scopes and recorders set up caught it. The screens displayed, in more detail than Jack really wanted to see, the piece of the moon hitting a house in a small village. The house caught fire instantly, and almost as quickly was surrounded by the people of the village, moving in their equivalent of a yell. Their movements became frantic and rushed, rather than the graceful almost dance that Jack had seen before.  
The screens quickly flashed to larger pieces of the moon hitting the planet, and Jack looked out at the moon itself to watch it begin to fall apart faster, and larger pieces began entering the atmosphere, burning brightly before hitting the ground. The screens started flashing back and forth between scenes of different sized pieces hitting different areas. Fires started flaring up, and Jack couldn't look away. More crew members started getting into the bridge, grouping around the screens or getting situated on their stations, watching in horror.  
“What happened?” Race sounded shell shocked.  
"The moon is heating faster than it can adapt to; it's falling apart." Charlie said helplessly. Every crew member was on their station, watching.  
“What do we do?”  
“I don't know.” Jack said helplessly. “The Invictus won't answer, and we don't have any protocol for this. We don't have any tech that could cool a moon, and even if we did it’s too late. We can't go down onto the planet, because they haven't hit Order Three.” Jack ran a hand through his hair.  
“Jack, people are getting hurt! Look!” Romeo sounded close to tears as he watched the screens. “We can't just watch them!”  
“Invictus, come in, please! Requesting advice, Invictus, what do we do? What’s going on! Please, Invictus, Pilgrim requesting advice!” Finch was frantically trying everything to contact the Invictus, but nothing was working.  
The bridge slowly settled into silence, people unable to do anything but watch in horror as the moon seemed to dissolve. Larger and larger pieces entered the atmosphere, glowing, some seeming to burst into flame before crashing down. The screens began to show more and more scenes of destruction, cycling through all the cameras, one after another. Fires were starting faster than they could be put out, and the people of the planet had stopped trying to put them all out, choosing instead to stand back, close together, most with their arms around at least one other person.  
The Pilgrim had a similar mood, Romeo had silent tears streaming down his face, Jack couldn't look away, Davey seemed frozen in his seat.  
Nobody talked, just watched a piece of a civilization get destroyed, helplessly floating in space, knowing they could help but weren't allowed to. They were being forced to watch as pieces of a civilization collapsed before them.  
“Jack.” Romeo could barely force a word out. “Jack, please. Please, Jack, please.”  
“Order three, Romeo.”  
“Jack. Please, Jack, we can’t.” His voice broke, and his tears weren't silent anymore. “They're in pain, Jack, they’re being hurt, and we could help, Jack, we have to. We have to help, Jack, please.” Jack took his eyes away from the screens to look around the bridge. Every single member of the Pilgrim’s crew was looking back at him, eyes wide, most damp or crying, and Jack could see that every single one of them agreed with Romeo.  
With that Jack let his resolve harden. He quickly walked to the communications desk and held out his hand for the mouthpiece.  
“Invictus, this is acting captain Jack Kelly of the SEV Pilgrim. Planet SFG-986 is in great distress. Although we are aware the planet has not yet reached Order Three, I, as acting captain, am making the decision that it is close enough that we have to help. Direct action is being taken to preserve the life of the planet. We request your advice and assistance, but as you’ve as of yet not responded, we are acting on our own.” Jack released the button and that was all it took for the bridge to fly into action.  
“Davey! Hit that button, we’re entering orbit. Charlie, take your team to the core.” Jack quickly assigned everyone to their landing stations, taking his seat. “Prepare for orbit and then landing. All crew to their stations, please. Spot and Race, take anyone else who doesn't have a specific landing station and prep medical and building supplies. We’re going to help these people.”  
“SEV Pilgrim, come in. This is Captain Joseph Pulitzer of the SEV Invictus. You are ordered to stand down and leave the atmosphere of planet SFG-986 immediately.” Jack glanced up from his monitors when he heard Captain Pulitzer’s voice. Everyone was looking directly at him. “SEV Pilgrim, you are ordered to stand down. You are breaking laws and regulations put in place for a reason.” Jack hesitated, glancing at the screens still showing scenes of destruction, then to his monitors, and finally around the bridge again.  
“Finch, don't reply. Mute it, or something. We’re helping.” Finch nodded sharply and hit a button. The lights on the communications desk flashed, letting everyone know Captain Pulitzer was still talking, but everybody ignored them, continuing to prep for landing.  
“Jack? We found all the medical and construction supplies we could. I don't think it’ll be enough if another moon does….whatever the hell that was.” Spot’s voice came over the intercom. “I mean, I can make the med supplies stretch, but we need at least some of them for the return, which I don't doubt will be happening right after this little rescue mission considering we’re breaking Order Three rules.” Race’s voice was chattering in the background. “Yes, asshole, shut up. I’m getting to that. The construction stuff we found is….low tech, to say the least. It’ll require more physical labor than normal building.”  
“It’s neat!” Race said clearly.  
“Get off the line, asshat, we aren't supposed to be-” Both lines clicked off.  
“Jack? The ship is ready for landing. Just let us know when we’re about to, so we can brace and bring down the reactor.”  
“Gotcha.” Jack responded to Albert’s voice coming over the intercom.  
“But Charlie wants you to know that everything in the reactor itself seems normal, but we do need to be careful not to overheat it.”  
“Okay. Charlie, do what you need to do. We’ll be landing in about ten minutes, I think.”  
“Okay.” Charlie’s voice sounded tinny and far away.  
“He says okay.” That channel clicked off, too, and left the bridge in busy silence.  
“Jack, we’ve been spotted.” Davey said suddenly.  
“You’re sure?”  
“People are reacting. There’s...fear, and hope in a few of them. Mostly fear, though.”  
“Finch, unmute Captain Pulitzer.” Davey said. “Maybe he-”  
“Jack Kelly, you are ordered to stand down!” Captain Pulitzer’s voice cut Davey off before he could finish.  
“Ooh, emotion.” Romeo said dryly.  
“David Jacobs, you are hereby appointed to the position of acting captain, and ordered to bring your ship directly to the Invictus, to receive disciplinary action.”  
“Dave? Obey or disobey? I mean, I’m still the pilot so technically I can listen to you or not, but still. We’re all on board here?”  
“Keep going, Jack.”  
“Finch, may I speak to the lovely Captain Pulitzer.”  
“Sure. You're on.”  
“Captain Pulitzer, this is pilot Jack Kelly speaking. We are aware that we are breaking rules and regulations, however, as an entire crew we have chosen to help. Davey may be acting captain now, but he agrees with me, and so does every single person on this ship. We’re helping these people, Captain Pulitzer.”  
“You’ll never fly another mission again.”  
“I’d rather spend my life in the Pits than remembering how I could have saved a planet and didn't.” Jack almost smiled when everyone on the bridge nodded. “I know nods aren't audible, but every single person here just nodded at me. We’re in this as a crew, as a ship, not as one individual, headstrong kid deciding for everyone else. These people need help, and we can help them, and we are going to help them. Finch, mute him again.”  
“I am your commanding officer-” Finch hit his button again, and everybody turned back to their stations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot? Plot.
> 
> As a bonus, this was written as two separate chapters? But the second one was really short and I have no idea why I separated them in the first place so have both!
> 
> As always, kudos are appreciated, comments make me love you, and come yell with me about the newsies and whatever else you want on tumblr, @gay-newsboys!


	14. Chapter 14

“Landing gear down, touchdown in seven, six, five, four, three, two-” The ship landed with a slight bump.  
“Jack.” Davey said abruptly. “We barely know enough of their language to be able to determine their emotions, let alone tell them we want to help. And they won’t know common sign, since they haven't reached Order Three yet. How are we going to do this?”  
“Davey?”  
“Yes?”  
“We’re a group of teenagers who fly a spaceship. We’re going to do what we do best. Improvise.” Davey’s mouth opened briefly before snapping shut.  
“I’ll review footage while you get supplies ready and see what I can come up with.”  
“Sounds good. Everyone not working in comms, come help get stuff ready.”  
“Jack, people approaching.”  
“Dave, hurry up, please. I’d like to avoid dying at least before we help them.”  
“I know the greetings, I think.” Davey look worried.  
“Just do your best. Show...helpfulness? Is that something you can do?”  
“Maybe? I dunno, Jack, their bodies are different from ours, I don’t know how well I can move.”  
“Least you’re tall and lanky.” Spot and Race appeared at the door, Spot managing a comment even as he was ready for action.   
“Unlike you, shortstack.”  
“Shut up. Jack, we have all the medical supplies we can possibly spare. I’ve saved the bare minimum, if the entire crew were to get sick people would die but I’m betting that won’t happen.” Spot was tightening a belt around his waist full of tools, and he had a backpack on that was bulging. “There’s three tent structures that can be set up, and three medics who’ll be able to operate them.”  
“And we found as many building supplies as we could, and I assume they’ll have resources that we can use as well.”  
“We’ll do our best.”  
“Jack, Pulitzer is trying to override mute.”  
“Just let him yell, he can’t do anything now.”  
“So I can stop re-hacking?” Jack stopped and blinked at Finch.  
“Re...yeah, sure.”  
“Cool cause he’s getting faster the more he tries.” Finch clicked his tablet off and the comms desk blew up with sound.  
“-irresponsible, stupid, endangering the entire system-”  
“I don’t know if you noticed, Captain, but this planet is dying. Something happened to that moon, and people are dying. People are hurting, losing everything-”  
“These are not people, they are an unclassified alien species! They have not been verified as friendly, they haven't even reached Order Three!”  
“They have a civilization! They have a language, and technology, and cities and towns and villages! They communicate with each other, help each other, lean on each other! I don't know what planet you've been looking at, but it isn't the same one I have! These are people, Captain Pulitzer, people who need our help!”  
“They might as well be animals!” Charlie stood up suddenly when Pulitzer said that.  
“Because they’re different? Because we don't know much about them? Because we don’t understand how they work, how their culture works? Captain Pulitzer, people used to say the same things about humans from different areas! I would be seen differently because I’m from Africa, Romeo because he’s from Asia, and none of that is true! And when we made it into space, we learned about species who were more advanced than us, who had gotten farther than us, who knew more than us, and who still managed to teach us things! We learned, Captain Pulitzer, that just because they’re different doesn't mean they aren't people! The literal definition of people changed, people doesn't mean human anymore!” Nobody had ever heard Charlie get angry before, he was normally one of the most level-headed people in the room. “These people are people the same way every other known species are people! They think and feel and have a society and they’re hurting! Don't you dare tell us not to help people that need help!”  
“You are under direct orders from your superior officers to return-”  
“Direct orders be damned! We’re helping these people whether you say we can or not! And if you were half the man you say you are, you would be helping us, too!”  
“This is not a question of whether or not I am a good man, this is a matter of coalition security and policy!”  
“This is a matter of people dying and hurting when we can help. We’re helping them, Captain Pulitzer.” Pulitzer continued to yell over the communications desk, while Finch messed around with portable comms devices.   
“These should have a radius of about ten miles, so we can stay in contact.” He said, tossing one to Jack. “There’s enough for one per every three people, so we should stay in groups at least that big. They can charge in most categorized light energies, so keep it outside your clothes if possible.” Jack nodded.  
“Spot, you take Elmer and JoJo and one of these. Set up the medic tents in the nearest town. If we can tell people we’re here to help, we’ll eventually split you guys up and have three different locations. Help as many people as you can, and try to get the point across that we need their medical supplies to help them, we don’t have enough. Charlie, you take your guys, all of them, and shut down our core. We can’t afford to waste fuel. Then go see if you can figure out building supplies, and help stop the fires if you can. Davey, stay with me, we need to try to make contact. And Race, you too, you can help us. The rest of you, you heard Finch. Groups of at least three, and keep in constant contact. We need to do what we can.” The entire crew nodded, splitting off together, grabbing the comms from Finch and taking backpacks from their bunks, full of blankets and water and basic first aid gear.  
Jack took Race and Davey, picking up their own packs and a comm that Jack clipped into his belt. As they were almost to the door, opened into a ramp down to the ground, the power shut off behind them. Emergency lights glowed red in the hallway behind them, and Charlie and his crew came up from the engine room.  
“The core is cooling, we’re only using the power from backup generators. Just know it’ll take at least two hours to get enough power back to take off.” Charlie said.   
“Okay. Hopefully, we won't need to leave fast.” Jack said grimly. Charlie nodded and took his team up to the bridge to get their comms and packs, while Jack, Race, and Davey stepped down onto the ground, the first humans to touch the planet.  
The ground was covered in something almost like moss, soft and springy. Some kind of flower was embedded in the moss, but they were tiny and almost glowing. Jack looked up from the ground to the trees, which seemed almost impossibly thin with their silvery trunks, but were growing so thickly the forest was dark only a few feet in.  
The sky was a dark, clear blue, almost purple, and appeared to be dotted with clouds, although when Jack looked at them more closely, they were smoky and dotted with embers.  
The ship had landed near a road, and down the road the first village they’d seen catch fire was burning. The houses were close together, and simple, and if the majority of them weren't on fire, it would have been a very nice place.  
In fact, the whole planet would have been beautiful without the fire.  
And all the video equipment and all the technology they’d had to observe the place hadn’t let them hear anything, and the noise stood out above everything else.  
When they first stepped out, it sounded almost like a distant wind, but the closer they got to the town, the louder whatever they were hearing got.  
It was a keening, steady noise, and it was heartbreaking. It was the sound of sadness being poured out in a never ended wave of sound, sometimes slightly quieter and sometimes louder, but never stopping. Race was shifting his pack uneasily from shoulder to shoulder as they walked, watching the trees around them and looking forward to the village, while Davey looked nervous. Jack couldn't focus on much other than the noise, the way it seemed to wind through the trees and along the path like it would go on forever, the way the sadness it carried seemed to build.   
“People.” Race said abruptly, looking again towards the village. The people of the village were coming to the edge, not coming to meet them but watching them approach.   
“Davey, how much can you talk to them?” Jack asked nervously.  
“Hopefully enough to show we want to help.” Davey replied.  
As they got even closer, Jack could see what the sound was. Inside the village, other than the people watching them approach, people were struggling to put out fires, using hoses and buckets and bowls full of water, trying anything to get the fires out. Others were bent over people on the street, trying to help. Every person was humming, but it was more than a hum. As they moved, the graceful sign language Jack had spent hours watching wasn't as clean as he had seen before. Their shoulders were hunched, when they moved their legs and arms it was tight and kept as close to their bodies as possible, and their jaws were clenched with the strength of their hum.  
They were very close to the village by the time one of the people approached. Davey stepped forward, glancing back at Jack and Race looking terrified, but he moved his body in the closest approximation to the people before them he could. One person stepped forward and tilted their head to the side, obviously asking a question as they moved. Jack heard Davey breathe out in concentration and move again.   
“You can do it, Dave. It’s okay.” Jack said quietly.   
The person who had stepped forward stopped humming, and their face shifted into a combination of surprise and hope.  
“You’re…” Jack started when they spoke. They pointed up, towards the sky, and the people behind them turned away and moved discreetly to themselves.  
“You speak common?” Davey asked. The person tilted their head again, and watched as Davey tried to figure out how to communicate what he meant. They seemed to understand, and pointed up again.  
“We...hear. Some. Hard.” Davey smiled broadly.  
“Jack, if they can hear transmissions, they have powerful technology! They’re so close to Order Three!”  
“I'm pretty sure we pushed them to Order Three when we landed an exploration spaceship in their woods, Dave.”  
“But they knew about us! They knew about other life! And learned from it!”  
“Hard learn. Try.” The person looked back at the village, and Jack noticed the other people who had approached had gone back to the people, and everyone not actively working was engaged in one conversation. They were all still humming.  
The rest of the crew had gotten behind them and were watching Davey talk to the alien.  
“Help.” They said simply, taking in the people behind them. Davey nodded, smiling again.   
“Help.” He agreed. The person loped back to the village, long legs carrying them quickly back to the other people. While many were still busy, some had stopped and were watching the crowd of humans cautiously. The one who had spoken was signing to them, weaving their body in the dance all of the humans had watched. Slowly, they seemed to look up at the humans and understand, and soon several were in their kind of vehicles, some sort of a cross between a car and a heavy duty truck, heading down different roads out of town. The speaker came back over, and signed another question. Davey frowned, trying to understand and also to figure out how to answer. Eventually he tried to sign something, wincing in apology when he was done.  
“I don’t know your language well, I’m sorry.” He said.  
“Try.” The alien said simply.  
“Yeah. Try. Crew, set up med tents and get those fires out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a long time m'dudes, oops. I forgot to post this one when it was done.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated!


	15. Chapter 15

It took until sunset and a few hours into the night to get the larger fires out, and longer to get the whole town extinguished. Throughout the night, people who had left in their vehicles came back and took both crew members and medical supplies to the other towns that had been hit by the falling moon. Davey mostly stayed with the alien who spoke, and by the end of the night they had a work-in-progress common language, a mixture of signs that Davey figured out and was taught and the words and phrases the alien knew. They and Davey went around the first village and helped communicate between them.  
Jack and Race were helping to repair the buildings they could, using the supplies the people had. Roofs on many of the houses were either smashed or burned or both. For the most part, they weren't fixing things entirely, just filling in what they could, trying to salvage the buildings they could. Some couldn’t be helped; the ones that had been hit directly were destroyed, but the ones that the fires had spread to were mostly saveable.  
The hum never stopped, and as Jack worked he noticed himself doing it too. As he was forcing boards to stay in place, he was humming out the same note as the aliens, and surprisingly he noticed other crew members joining in as well.   
By the time the fires were out, Jack was tired, sore and dirty, but as he looked around and saw his crew working alongside people they could barely talk to, sharing water and helping wrap blisters and take care of the more hurt people, it was worth it. The aliens didn’t stop their keening, even as they showed the Pilgrim’s crew where they could lay down and rest.  
When the sun rose again, only a few hours after they laid down, more vehicles were already coming and going, and soon they were back to repairing and building, making sure the people who had been hurt were comfortable and safe.  
Jack also noticed that his crew was getting quieter and quieter. They talked amongst themselves when they needed to, but they were mostly working in verbal silence, some even attempting to pick up on the sign language by watching. Even more were humming now than the night before, and now the hum wasn’t just a single note. It was a slow melody, sad and long, only a few notes long, but it stretched on for minutes at a time before repeating. At first, Jack didn’t even notice the hum was changing, but it was, every person in unison changing notes and humming together. The people of the planet slowly split into harmonies, and the melody built through the day until it was more complex than Jack could follow, and his crew was still humming the same notes.  
Three people died, burned too badly to do more than keep comfortable, and as the life left them, the hum grew and swelled until Jack would have sworn he could feel it in his bones. More than once Jack caught himself or another member of the crew wiping away a tear, but as the day went on he also saw communication develop between the silent aliens and his crew, a combination of their sign language and gestures that were universally understood.   
The one who could speak was walking and working with Davey, learning more of the common language as they did, and it was immediately obvious that they had the same knack for picking up languages that Davey did. The crew was calling them “Specs,” affectionately commenting on the tattoo like pattern of dots and dashes that spiraled around their eyes in an almost lense like pattern.   
Their work seemed to never end, putting out fires and cleaning up debris left behind, one day stretched into two stretched into four stretched into a week until finally, the villages they were working in were almost back to normal.  
The crew had fallen into near perfect silence, not talking almost at all around the people of the planet, and a common sign language had developed.   
Everyone worked in more harmony than Jack had ever seen, bonding together over the grief and destruction they were working against.  
“Jack! Finch wants you back on the ship, he’s been going over the videos and says he found something.” Charlie kept his voice quiet as he brushed against Jack’s shoulder, looking over his shoulder to see the drawing he was doing for some of the smaller kids sitting around his feet. Several of them looked at Charlie’s metal leg with wide eyes, asking questions with their body language that made Charlie laugh.  
 _Are you a robot? Why is it so shiny? How come your pants are ripped? _He responded as Jack stood up, passing the paper down.  
 _Not a robot, just my leg. _  
_Be back soon, yes? _Jack signed before he headed back to the ship.______  
Finch was waiting for him on the bridge, bouncing on the balls of his feet in front of all the screens, looking worried.  
“I’ve been going over and over the footage of the moon, Jack, and the satellite, and I couldn’t figure out where the energy from either came from because nothing showed up outside the closed system aside from electricity and so I was scanning over and over again for different types of energy that would cause electrical spikes and nothing was coming up and then on the moon there was all this heat that didn’t seem to come from anywhere and all our observation made it seem like it should have been a cold core moon but the way it shattered showed a molten core and I couldn’t figure out why that would be and so then I got frustrated and started going through older readings and Jack when we first got here the satellite was around the moon and then I started thinking and radiation can cause shorts because it makes the wires brittle and then if they get moved suddenly they short out and the solar panels moved right before exploded and so I went back and looked at the reading for radiation over the entire time were were taking any and the second day were were there there was this speck that seemed small enough we wouldn’t see it in size but there was so much radiation and it passed right near the satellite and went into the moon and then it just kept getting bigger and we weren’t paying attention to radiation reading because why would we once we knew there weren’t dangerous levels why would we keep paying attention and then the satellite must have absorbed enough to short out when the solar panels moved and the core just got so hot it became molten and caused the moon to just fall apart and-”  
“Finch, please, slow down and tell me what it means.”  
“It was on purpose, Jack, that’s what it means. Somebody shot high energy radiation directly into the moon and made it melt, somebody with our technology.” Finch spun to one of the keyboards, pulling up data. “And we don’t have anything on board with radiation that strong, even our core, and even if we did, we aren’t big enough to store it safely, it would need a really good cargo hold for only it and it’s safety measures.” He dragged a new screen up and highlighted data. “So then I just hacked into the Invictus’s logs, and look.” The lines of text didn’t mean much to Jack; it was just a string of numbers and technical terms, but Finch was quick to explain. “Those are terms and codes that describe exactly what they would need to house high radiation particles. Extra water, high volume pipes, and tanks, cooling equipment. Only thing is, there’s no reason they’d need that, their core already came with extra safety equipment just like ours does and the logs don’t show any extra radioactive materials, but of course, they’d need all this stuff if they were planning on doing something like this.”  
“The Invictus did this?” Jack couldn’t wrap his head around what Finch was telling him. Captain Pulitzer and his crew were well known for being honorable and great explorers. Jack knew some of them weren’t the nicest people, but he’d never really questioned their goodness. Even when Pulitzer had tried to insist they leave the planet alone instead of helping, it had seemed more of a problem of him being too good, too unwilling to ever break the rules than actively working against the people.  
“I think so.” Finch looked miserable but convinced.  
“Why?”  
“I don’t know. But if he does it again, Jack, we don’t have the resources to keep helping like this, and they don’t have the resources they need to survive. This entire hemisphere has damage, so many people have been hurt or died, if the Invictus hits a moon on the other hemisphere, they’re going to stretch medical supplies so far it’ll be useless. The hurt people will die, Jack, and we won’t be able to do anything.”  
“Do we know they’ll hit again?”  
“No, but we don’t not know, either, and we can’t afford for them to. We have to stop them.” Jack looked around the bridge, thinking.   
“How are the rest of the crew doing? Are the places they are doing as well as this one?”  
“All the settlements are about on this stage, yeah. Some dead and a lot hurt, but recovering, somewhat.” Jack fiddled with the comms device clipped to his waistband, considering before he pulled it off and pushed the button.  
“All crew members of the Pilgrim, report back to the ship right away. Emergency meeting and protocol in place, come as soon as you can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhh catch me fixing inconsistencies as I go because I originally had a heat source away from the moon and now it's radiation so I fixed it in the earlier chapter. Also? I'm not a nuclear scientist so I'm sorry if none of that makes sense, I did some basic research but this is a sci-fi fanfic it doesn't need to be perfectly scientifically accurate.
> 
> As always, kudos are appreciated, comments are adored, and come yell with me on tumblr, @the-donnynova-band!


End file.
